


Black Sun

by Dressed_In_Darkness



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alien Eren Yeager, Alien Jean Kirstein, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Anal Sex, Angst, Bottom Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Dominant Eren Yeager, Double Oral Penetration, Double Penetration, Dry Orgasm, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eren Yeager Has Two Penises, M/M, Mating Bites, Minor Armin Arlert/Jean Kirstein, OOC characters, Oviposition, POV First Person, Possessive Eren Yeager, Rough Sex, Shameless Smut, Size Kink, Top Eren Yeager
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-06
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:42:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 25,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25098595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dressed_In_Darkness/pseuds/Dressed_In_Darkness
Summary: On a routine day in late September, Levi Ackerman's life is turned upside down when an emergency alarm goes off at the research facility he works at. He doesn't suspect what will happen from there, that he will be taken hostage by two men who just happen to be aliens. But from that night forward, his life will never be the same.
Relationships: Levi/Eren Yeager
Comments: 211
Kudos: 850





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is just an excuse to 1) write Eren with two peens and 2) thirst for Alien Eren. And you know what? That's a valid excuse to work on anything.  
> But I hope you enjoy reading! 🥳
> 
> [Twitter](https://twitter.com/eren6ever)

|Eren|

The smell of blood woke me from a thin sleep. I opened my eyes and hissed in a breath when a slab of raw meat came into focus. It was dangling inches above my face, hanging from a metal hook connected to the roof. Blood dripped from it. A mixture of saliva and venom flooded my mouth as a drop landed on my cheek.

“You must be hungry,” a woman’s voice said from nearby— _the_ woman, the same one who had captured us at the crash site. “You haven’t eaten in days. Don’t you want a taste?”

So, this was their new way of approaching things? Food?

The woman leaned over the medical cot they had me strapped to. In her hands, she held a test tube and a clipboard. “You mind telling me what’s leaking from your mouth? It doesn’t look like saliva. It’s purplish-black in color.” She paused, giving me a chance to answer. When I remained silent, she added, “Things would be a lot easier for you if you cooperated.” Unscrewing the lid of the test tube, she pulled out a swab and gathered a bit of venom from my chin. “I’m going to find out what this is whether you talk or not. Are you sure you want to keep quiet? If you tell me what it is, I’ll let you eat.”

I bared my teeth, a defensive croaking sound slipping out. Although she remained composed, her scent gave away her fear.

“You’ve made that sound several times before,” she said. “Is it a warning?”

I glared at her. As much as I wanted to kill her, I couldn’t make my move. Not yet. I had to wait for the signal.

“I get it. You’re not going to talk.” She slipped the test tube into the pocket of her lab coat. Then, sliding out a pen from on top of the clipboard, she jotted something down.

With her attention on something else, I openly gazed at her, committing her face to memory. Large brown eyes, red hair, strong build. By the end of the night, I would kill her myself. People like her—people who called themselves scientists and researchers—had taken too many of my kind. How many of us had died here in this very facility? They had taken an entire crew last time and used them for experiments that resulted in multiple deaths. They were doing the same with me. For the past two days, they had run many tests, but it would amount to nothing. I was going to kill everyone here.

“I’ll be going now.” The woman patted the meat. Droplets of blood splattered on my face. “Think about what I told you. Think about providing us with the information we need. If you do that, I’ll think about letting you eat.” She left the room.

Alone, I glanced at the analog clock that hung near the door. Two AM. The time to escape was drawing near.

I broke the restraints on my wrists and ankles with ease. Then I sat up, took hold of the meat, and tore into it. Venom ran thick from the corners of my mouth, softening every bite. In a few minutes, I would receive the signal. I needed all my strength before then. Although humans were weak and easy to dispose of, I didn’t want to take any chances. Tonight I would avenge everyone who died here at the hands of humans. I wouldn’t spare a single life.

As I finished the last of the meat, the signal came, a high-pitched ringing no human could hear. I needed to head out to meet with my partner, but first, I would wait for the woman to come back. She never stayed gone for long.

I climbed off the cot and stood up to my full height. I didn’t have to wait long. A short while later, the door to the room opened and two men walked inside. I recognized them right away. They were responsible for transferring me to the testing area. They acted high and mighty when I was restrained, but now their eyes were full of terror.

“Shit! He’s free!” one of them shrieked, backing up towards the door and slamming into the red-haired woman. “Why are you just standing there, dipshit? Shoot him already!”

The other man fumbled with the gun holstered to his belt. “S-stay where you are.” He raised his hand, as though that would keep me still. “Don’t move. Don’t move a damn inch.”

I took a step closer.

“Don’t move!” he repeated, finally pulling out the gun. With weapon in hand, he grew confident. “Get back on the cot! Right now, you lousy fuck! Don’t make me pump you full of lead.”

The woman came to stand next to him. “Don’t shoot to kill. We still need him.”

“Look, lady, if he comes anywhere near me—”

I didn’t let him finish his sentence. I wrapped my hand around his throat and squeezed. His neck snapped. I let his limp body fall to the ground.

The other man screamed. _“No, no, no, no, no!_ I did not sign up for this shit.” He turned the leave. I grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked him towards me. “Help me! Help me! Help—” His words cut off as I bit into his shoulder, hard enough to tear away a chunk of muscle.

I tossed him to the side. My venom would finish him off.

Calmly, the woman eyed the man as he crawled away from me, leaving behind a trail of blood. “You left him alive,” she said. “Why?” She returned her gaze to me. “I suppose that’s not important. You want to kill me.”

“I _will_ kill you,” I responded, in my own language.

“You responded at last. Does that mean you understand English? It’s a shame you won’t speak to me. There’s a lot I want to know. Just as I’m sure there’s a lot you want to know.” She smiled, but her eyes remained cold and calculative. “We can help each other.”

I’d had enough of her speech. I lunged at her, knocking her back against a work counter. Several beakers fell to the floor and shattered. Shards of glass sprayed outwards.

“You don’t want to kill me,” she said as I pinned her against the countertop. “I have information you want.”

“Shut up!” I snarled, not caring if she understood me or not. “I’m going to tear you to pieces.” I bent my head, opening my mouth...

“We didn’t kill all of them. There are a few left. They’re being held in a different facility. If you let me go, I’ll tell you everything. But you have to let me go first.”

I leaned back far enough to look into her eyes. She wouldn’t meet my gaze. 

“Liar,” I said, right before I ripped her throat out.

* * *

|Levi|

Near the end of my shift, I entered the cafeteria and stopped in my tracks at the sight of all the garbage the staff had left behind. Fuckers. For being intelligent scientists, they sure were pigs.

I hated this job.

It would take longer than an hour to clean the place up. I had no idea why I’d saved the cafeteria for last. Even if I rushed, I wouldn’t finish by the time I needed to clock out. Working overtime wasn’t an option, either. Mr. Remington, my boss, had forbidden it for the next two weeks. You would think this multimillionaire corporation could afford to pay their employees overtime, but that didn’t seem to be the case, especially when it came to janitors like me.

“I hate this job,” I said aloud. The only thing left to do was clean, and hope I finished in record time.

Before I began, I fished out my old MP3 player from my back pocket and hit the play button. _November_ by Max Richter began to play. I relaxed at once. Anything was doable while listening to Max Richter.

I started clearing off the tables, throwing away food trays piled high with trash, empty Styrofoam cups, and half-eaten muffins. I would have to wipe down everything. There was too much food smeared on the tabletops. Not to mention the opened sugar packets that had spilled. For fuck’s sake. These scientists walked around in their pristine lab coats, looking impeccable, yet they couldn’t take an extra few minutes to throw away their trash? Did common courtesy not exist anymore? Most of them did look at me like I was an eyesore. _Well, this eyesore keeps your research facility spotless on a daily basis._

Once the tables were gleaming, I moved onto sweeping. That’s what I was in the middle of doing when a strange noise caught my attention. I paused my music. An alarm was going off.

_Attention. All personnel must evacuate immediately. You now have T-minus fifteen minutes before automatic lockdown._

“What the hell?” As I stood there, confused, the message played again. I had no idea what happened for someone to sound the alarm, but I wasn’t sticking around to find out. This was a research facility. There could be a chemical spill or a biological accident. All I knew was if they wanted to lock the place down, it had to be serious.

I dropped the broom and hurried out of the cafeteria. I was on the third floor. From here, it would take me about eight minutes to reach the main floor.

Shit. I didn’t have a lot of time.

At this hour, the corridors were empty. It made it easier to reach the elevator. I pressed the down button over and over, waiting for the door to slide open, but instead of the button lighting up, it stayed dark and unresponsive. Had they shut the elevators down?

“Fuck!” I turned around and ran back the way I came. When I stopped in front of the emergency stairwell, I threw open the door and took the stairs two at a time.

_Attention. All personnel must evacuate immediately. You now have T-minus eight minutes before automatic lockdown._

I pushed my way through the last door. The second I stepped out into the corridor, I slid on something wet and sticky. I caught myself on the wall at the last second and peered down at the floor. Blood covered my shoes. I was standing in a puddle of it. As I gazed around in disbelief, I saw that it was everywhere. It looked like something straight out of a horror film. What had happened here? Why exactly did everyone need to evacuate?

With some effort, I gulped down a breath of air. My throat felt constricted. Every breath came out in one hard pant. And all I could hear was the erratic beating of my heart. I needed to get out of here. Whatever did this, it was still around. It had to be. If I stayed here longer than necessary, I would be locked inside with it. I had to move. I had to get going. Now.

Making my way down familiar corridors, I tried my best to ignore the gore all around me. There were several bodies lying around, people picked off as they rushed to the only exit. The same could happen to me at any moment. The thought of it happening made me more paranoid than ever, but I kept my eyes fixed on the EXIT sign up ahead. I would make it out of here. I still had four minutes before the lockdown.

A loud thud brought me to a pause. It came from somewhere behind me. Was someone else heading this way?

_Don’t look. Just keep going. Time is almost up._

What if it was someone who needed help?

I turned around and knew right away that I’d made a mistake. There _was_ someone there, a man I’d never seen before. He was about thirty feet away, but even from this distance, I could make out the blood covering his hands.

Without thought, I took several steps back and bumped into something solid. A whimper escaped me as something warm and wet hit the back of my neck. It glided past the collar of my coveralls, burning a path down my spine. _What is that? What...?_

Movement from up ahead drew my attention away from my neck. The man with the blood on his hands was looking past me now. He tilted his head to the side and made a soft clicking sound deep in his throat. When something behind me responded with a similar sound, I whirled around.

A tall man towered over me. The first thing I noticed was the blood smeared across his mouth. It ran in thick rivulets down the front of his chin. Every fiber of my being told me he was a threat. Despite that, I wanted to believe he was a regular man. He looked normal enough, from his long brown hair to his deep tan skin, but his eyes were all wrong. His pupils weren’t round. They were shaped like slits. And his irises, which were turquoise with flecks of yellow, were luminescent. What was he? A failed experiment?

He had to be the reason behind the lockdown. Whoever initiated it wanted to prevent him from escaping the facility.

No, not just him. The other one too. They were both dangerous.

_Attention. All personnel must evacuate immediately. You now have T-minus one minute before automatic lockdown._

Only a minute left to get out of this place. If I stayed put, I would get locked inside with the two of them. They would kill me if it came to that. It didn’t take a genius to figure out they were the ones responsible for all the bodies I’d seen.

The will to live drove me to act without thinking of anything else except escaping in time. I stepped around the man, trained my gaze on the double doors, and...

Fast as a whip, the man grabbed me by the neck and lifted me off my feet. I clutched at his hand with both of mine, trying to pry it from my throat, but his grip only tightened as he brought his arm above his head. My vision swam in and out of focus. His face became nothing but a blur of colors in front of me. In one final attempt to free myself, I scratched his hand deep enough to draw blood. His grip didn’t loosen. That’s when I realized I was going to die right here, just a few feet away from the exit.

The pressure around my neck disappeared all at once. I fell to the floor in a heap, sucking in air and coughing it back out. When I regained enough sense to look up, I saw that the other man, the one with the bloody hands, had stepped between me and my assailant. He was taller than the other one, with short ash-brown hair and a goatee, but his eyes were the same. The only difference was the color. They were hazel.

I stared into them as he knelt beside me.

“You...” He hesitated, then pressed on, “Are you like them?” He gestured to a dead woman slumped against the wall. Her lab coat was drenched in blood.

“A scientist?” I asked.

He nodded once.

“No. I’m not a scientist. I’m a janitor.”

“Janitor?”

“Yes,” I said. “It’s my job to clean. That’s it. I have nothing to do with the research that goes on here.” I sat up. My throat hurt. It felt like I’d swallowed a razorblade. “Why are you asking me that? What difference does it make? You killed everyone.”

“They killed our people first.” His words came out slow and robotic, as though he wasn’t used to speaking English.

“Your people? You mean other test subjects?” When he gave me no response, I said, “What do you want from me?”

“We have to leave.”

“There’s no getting out of here now. The doors are sealed. Unless you have the security clearance to override the automatic lockdown, we’re stuck here until someone gets us out.”

To that, he walked up to the woman he’d pointed out earlier and crouched near her body. He went through her lab coat pockets. There was an I.D. card in one. In the other, he found what he wanted. He slid out a black keycard and tossed it to the other man, who went to the doors.

“You won’t be able to open the doors without the proper security code,” I said.

Goatee man returned to my side. “How long have you worked in this facility?”

“A year and a half.”

“Are you aware of the other research facilities owned by the Trost Corporation?”

“Why do you want to know?”

He grabbed me by the chin, hard enough to make me wince. “Answer the question.”

“Yes, I’m aware of them,” I said.

“Do you know where they’re located?”

“Yes.” Like I’d tell him where they were. He probably planned on killing everyone who worked in those facilities. Once we made it out of here, I would contact the authorities.

“Good enough.”

“Good enough for what?” I asked.

“Good enough to keep you alive for the time being. Now get up.”

I staggered to my feet. “Are you and the other man—What are you guys?”

“That’s none of your concern.”

I wanted to pry, but decided against it. Right now I needed to comply with what he wanted of me. If the other guy could get the doors open, then I would find a way to escape. I would have to. It was evident they were only keeping me alive to find out where the other Trost research facilities were. After I told them, I’d be disposable.

The loud humming of the metal doors opening drew me out of my thoughts. I didn’t have time to question how it had been done. Goatee grabbed me by the arm and lugged me toward the exit.

“Do you have a vehicle?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Lead us to it. And don’t try anything. I stopped my partner from killing you once. I won’t stop him again.” He gave me the go ahead to walk in front of him. Mr. Strangler took up the rear.

Cool wind blew my hair away from my face as we exited the building. The parking lot was dark and empty. All the cars parked in assigned spots would never be driven home by their owners. All of them were dead now, and if I didn’t play it safe, I would join them.

As I made my way to where I’d parked, Goatee man came to walk beside me. I gave him a sideways glance. It would be best to stay quiet in this type of situation, but I wanted to see how much information I could get out of him—the more, the better. “What’s your name, anyway? Or is that none of my concern, either?”

He said something in a language I didn’t understand.

“What?” I asked.

“That was my name, but if I shorten it and translate it to English, it would be... Jean.”

“What about Mr. Strangler? What’s his name?”

To my surprise, Jean cracked a smile. “His name is”—he paused, no doubt shortening and translating the other’s name—“Eren.”

“Is he your lackey?”

This time he didn’t smile. “You ask too many questions.”

I took the hint and shut up. We weren’t far from my car now. Part of me wanted to come up with a plan to delay us long enough for someone to show up, but the other part, the smarter part, knew that was a bad idea. I was lucky to have made it this far, but my luck wouldn’t last much longer. From here, I would have to take them somewhere I could get help. But where? If I drove to the nearest police station, they would kill me on the spot.

“Is that your vehicle?” Jean asked, pointing to an old Volvo.

“Yes.”

“Get in.”

With hands that shook, I took my keys out of my pocket and unlocked the doors. “Where will we go?”

“Your home,” he said.

That took me by surprise. I went to ask another question, but a growl cut me off before I could speak. The other man, Eren, came to stand in front of me. I had to tip my head back to look at him in the face. I waited for him to speak up for the first time, but all he did was reach around me to yank the driver’s side door open.

“Now,” he said in a deep, gravelly voice.

I got in, knowing my life would never go back to normal.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The second chapter is here! I want to thank those of you who showed me support when I posted this fic. Whether you left a comment, kudos, or subscribed, it's much appreciated ♡

When I didn’t have two murderers riding in the back seat of my car, the sight of my apartment complex brought me comfort. Today it filled me with dread. I had no idea what to expect once we arrived there. Jean and Eren hadn’t given me further instructions since we’d left the facility. I wanted to know what they were planning on doing at my home. Why go there of all places? Did they want to take me to a safe location so they could interrogate me about the other research facilities? And if that was the case, what would they do with me after they got the information they needed?

I tightened my grip on the steering wheel, thinking _That’s a stupid thing to wonder about. It’s obvious what they’re going to do with me afterward. I’ll become another victim in a long list of victims._

“I live just up ahead,” I said, unable to take the silence for another second.

Jean leaned forward between the two front seats to examine the three-story building. When he turned his head to look at me, hazel eyes aglow, he asked, “Which floor do you live on?”

“The third floor.”

“This goes without saying, but you should act normal when we get there. If at any time you attempt to call for help—”

“You’ll kill me,” I said in a matter-of-fact tone.

He had the nerve to scoff. “We still need you, remember? We won’t kill you, but we won’t have a problem breaking one of your limbs. How about your left leg? You can still talk with it broken.”

“I get it. I won’t try anything.” I turned into the parking lot and drove toward my assigned parking space, using my free hand to rub my throat. It hurt to talk. My neck would look awful in a few hours. Not that having a bruised neck mattered any. That was the least of my worries in my current situation. “I don’t see why you’re worried about me attracting attention, anyway. The two of you are covered in blood. I’m sure anyone who sees you guys won’t overlook that.”

“You don’t have to worry about anyone seeing us,” Jean said. “No one will.”

I shot him a sideways glance. Who was he kidding? He was huge. He had to be over six feet tall, and the guy in the back was right there with him. There was no way they would go unnoticed. People were always walking around, even at odd hours of the morning. What were they going to do if someone spotted them? Better yet, how far were they willing to go to keep someone quiet? I didn’t want anyone else to die.

“You’re sure no one will see you?” I asked.

Jean climbed into the passenger seat. “Positive.”

“You won’t kill anyone else?”

“There’s no reason for us to shed more blood tonight. We have no quarrel with anyone here.”

I almost made the mistake of taking what he said at face value, but then I remembered what he was capable of—what they were both capable of. After what they had done back at the research facility, neither of them could be trusted. They had killed so many people without showing any remorse for their actions. It was all too clear they weren’t afraid to take a life, which meant they wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if someone got in their way. I couldn’t let that happen.

As I parked my car, I glanced around to make sure no one was nearby. Other than a golden retriever lying on someone’s balcony, there was no sign of anyone. “That’s me up there.” I pointed in the general direction of my apartment, still keeping an eye out for people.

“Get out first,” ordered Jean. “Walk to your apartment as you usually would. We’ll be right behind you.”

The way he said it left no room for argument. I killed the engine, pushed open the door, and stepped out without saying another word. It would only take about seven minutes to walk to my apartment from here. Under normal circumstances, I would have done it without thought, but right then I couldn’t bring myself to move. I had to think of a way to get away from them. If I let them get me alone in my apartment, I wouldn’t be able to escape.

A tap on the front windshield reminded me that I didn’t have time to think things through. I started walking. When I heard car doors shut behind me, my heart pounded so hard it hurt. I was running out of time. The next few minutes were crucial, yet I couldn’t think of a single thing to do. _Come on, think harder. There has to be a way to distract them long enough for me to slip away._ I glanced back over my shoulder to determine how far back they were. I expected to see them close behind me, but they were nowhere in sight. _What? Is this some sort of trick? Where the hell are they? Where_ can _they be?_

Confused with their sudden disappearance, I kept walking. The staircase that led to my apartment was right up ahead. I had a decision to make. I either went up obediently, putting my life in their hands, or I took a chance.

I looked back one more time. The empty sidewalk convinced me to walk past the staircase. _It’s now or never. Make a move._ For a moment, only a moment, I considered going back, but then I was running. I didn’t know where I was going, but anywhere would be better than my apartment. I just needed time to think of a proper plan.

The sound of footsteps snapped me out of my thoughts. Without looking back—not daring to look back in fear I’d lose my nerve—I picked up my pace, sprinting toward the main building. If I could circle back around to the parking lot, I had a fighting chance of making it out of here. I would get in my car and drive far away from this shitty apartment complex. Jean and Eren would have no hopes of catching me once I made it behind the wheel. Or at least that’s what I kept telling myself as I continued to run as fast as my legs would carry me.

Although the sound of footsteps had stopped, I knew they were still chasing me. I sensed someone close behind.

A stitch was forming in my right side. It grew bigger and more painful with every step, forcing me to realize I wouldn’t be able to keep running at this speed for much longer. I was already slowing down.

_Shit! Where can I go?_

The only thing that came to mind was the gated community pool. It was much closer than my car, and it wasn’t open to the public. Only residents with a key could get inside. The thought of locking myself in there and hiding out till morning gave me enough hope to push myself to go faster. I ignored the pain in my side. I ignored the way my chest tightened every time I drew in a breath. I ignored it all, focusing on the black gate ahead of me.

By the time I reached it, I could taste blood in the back of my mouth. I swallowed several times in hopes of getting rid of it as I took my keys out of my pocket. I went through them in a hurry, searching for the one that would open the gate, but they all looked the damn same! Then a memory resurfaced. The day I’d moved in, the lady who had showed me around gave me a set of keys and pointed out that the pool and gym keys were the small brass ones. I spotted them right away. Why hadn’t I remembered?

I unlocked the gate, threw the door open, and stepped inside, closing it with a bang behind me. I didn’t know what to expect from there. Other than the sound of my harsh breathing and the wind whistling through the trees, there was nothing but eerie silence. It lasted for a couple of minutes—longer than I thought it would—then the gate rattled, hard, like someone was climbing over it. But there was no one. The nearby streetlight illuminated the area enough to prove that to me, yet the sound only got louder.

As I looked around again, something caught my eye. On top of the gate door, the air seemed to shimmer the way it does on a hot day. It became more pronounced the longer I stared at it. Then it began to take shape. I recognized the man from the facility, the one who had strangled me.

Eren. 

“What the hell are you?” I took several steps back. 

Crouching on top of the gate, he stared at me in silence, his eyes following my every move.

“If you’re going to kill me, get it over with,” I said, suddenly angry. The emotion swept through me, driving away my fear and replacing it with determination.

Eren remained silent, watchful, which pissed me off even more.

“Fuck you!” I yelled, right before I dashed for the gate. I grabbed the handle, swung the door open, and ran. It didn’t matter if he caught me now. I wouldn’t give up without a fight.

I made it as far as the main building, then something heavy slammed into my back and knocked me to the ground. The air in my lungs rushed out in one painful breath, but I wasn’t given a chance to recuperate. Eren grabbed a handful of my coveralls and yanked me up, pinning me against the wall the second I was on my feet. I didn’t fight him. I was too exhausted and rattled to do anything except stare.

In the moonlight, he looked every bit a hungry predator—dangerous, frightening, wild. When our eyes met a moment later, he growled deep in his throat, an unnatural sound that made every hair on my body stand on end. My fear seemed to entice him. He moved in close, gathering my wrists in one of his hands to raise my arms above my head as he tilted his head down toward mine. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned my face away. He snarled at the sudden movement, and I felt his warm breath on my neck.

What was he going to do? What did he want?

“Your name,” he demanded, his voice so low and ominous that a shiver ran down my spine.

“M-my name?”

He grabbed my chin and turned my head back toward him. “Your name,” he repeated.

“Levi. It’s Levi.”

He suddenly stood up straight and looked behind him. Jean materialized out of nowhere; one second not there, the next standing a few feet behind Eren. Again I thought _What are they?_

“We need to get indoors,” Jean said in a calm tone. “Your little chasing spree drew attention to us.”

Eren responded to him in a language I didn’t understand, but he sounded like he couldn’t care less about anyone having seen us.

Jean sighed, then turned his attention to me. “Take us to your home. If you decide to run again, I can’t guarantee that I won’t kill you.”

“I won’t run.”

“For your sake, you better not.” He made a sweeping motion with his arm. “Lead the way.”

Eren released my hands, but stuck close to me as I began the walk back to my apartment. Was he worried I’d run again? I had no strength left in me for that. It would be pointless, anyway. They would catch me long before I reached safety, because they were something...other. I had no idea what they were, but the possibility of them being human was slim to none. Humans couldn’t become invisible or materialize out of thin air. No, definitely not human, but whatever they happened to be, one thing was certain: They weren’t to be taken lightly. They were a far greater threat than I could have ever imagined.

Lost in thought, I only realized my keys weren’t in my pocket when we got to my apartment. I turned around to explain the hold up, but Jean asked, “What is it?” before I had a chance to speak.

“I dropped my keys somewhere. I can’t unlock the door.”

Eren reached around me and took hold of the doorknob. I started to tell him that it wouldn’t open when he gave the knob one quick twist. The wood splintered in several direction as he yanked the knob clean off the door.

“There goes my deposit,” I said, like it mattered. If I lived to see tomorrow, it would be a miracle.

Jean pushed open the door and urged us inside the dark apartment. I flicked on the light switch. Yellowish-white light flooded the living room.

“You want to know where the other facilities are, don’t you?” I didn’t wait around to hear a reply. I went into the kitchen and sat down at the dining table. There was a horrible pounding in my temples, a good ole tension headache forming from all the excitement I’d experienced in one night. God, I wanted to go to sleep. “I won’t tell you where they are.”

Jean came to sit across from me. “Why is that?”

“You’re going to kill everyone who works at those facilities. I won’t be a part of that. I _refuse_ to be a part of that.”

“You don’t have much of a choice.”

“I do,” I shot back. “I won’t tell you anything, not even if you torture me.”

He stood up. You would think he’d look comical in the pair of disposable blue shorts he was wearing, but nothing about him looked funny, especially when he fixed me with a cold stare. “That’s the only reason we kept you alive.”

“I know that.”

“You know, yet you still refuse to tell us where the other facilities are located?”

I nodded.

“Have it your way.” He crossed the distance between us and reached for me, but before his hand could close around my throat, Eren spoke up in the same foreign language from earlier. They went back and forth for a while, Jean growing angrier with every passing second. When the conversation came to an end, he turned that anger on me and said, “What do you humans say when you catch a break? Today’s your lucky day? Well, today truly is your lucky day.”

My eyes darted to his face. “I don’t understand.”

“Eren wants to keep you alive.” Then, in a pissed off tone, “Which I don’t think is wise.”

I let out a breathy chuckle, which surprised us both. “He’s not your lackey, is he? It’s the other way around.”

Jean gritted his teeth. “I’m not his lackey.”

“But you’re not in charge.”

“I don’t see why that matters to you.”

Somehow it did matter.

I glanced at Eren, who was pacing on the other side of the breakfast bar. A growl pierced through the silence the second our eyes met. I dropped my gaze at the sound, but lifted my eyes a moment later. I needed to know the reason he convinced Jean not to get rid of me. “Why are you keeping me alive?” I asked, watching a dark fluid leak from his mouth. What was it? “You know I won’t tell you where the other facilities are. So...why?”

“He won’t respond to you,” Jean said. “He doesn’t know much English.”

“But he can understand it.” I stated that as a fact, even though neither of them had told me. I regarded Eren, this time holding his gaze without looking away. “Right?”

He nodded once.

“Then tell me”—I stood up and walked up to him—“why are keeping me alive? I want to hear it from you.”

Jean went to speak again, but Eren cut him off with a swipe of his hand. Silence ensued.

“You,” Eren began, pausing to think of how to procced, “intrigue me.”

Out of all the things that had happened to me tonight, this is what left me speechless? What did he mean I intrigued him? The thought of asking him occurred to me at the same time the phone rang. For a few seconds none of us reacted, and then Jean walked past me, eyeing the screen of the cordless phone that was on the end table.

“Whose Hanji?” he asked.

I cursed caller ID. Hanji was the last person that needed to get involved in this. “She’s a friend.”

“Answer it.”

“What? Why would you want me to do that?”

He picked up the phone. “When I said her name, you looked panicked.” He pressed the phone against my chest. “Answer it, but be mindful of what you say.”

I clenched my teeth and took the phone from him, accepting the call. “Hello?”

“Levi! Thank God you answered! How did you make it out of the facility? I got a call from Erwin a little while ago. He said there was an emergency situation and the facility needed to be locked down. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” I reassured her, although that wasn’t exactly the truth. “I felt sick, so I left a bit early.”

“So, you’re at your apartment? I’m coming over.”

“Don’t!” I all but yelled. In a calmer voice, I added, “I’m about to head to bed, so it would be a wasted trip.”

The other end went quiet. When Hanji spoke again, she sounded half insane. “Listen to me, Levi. There were two important research subjects at that facility. They are of the highest importance, do you understand me? If you know anything about their location, you need to tell me at once. Are they there with you? Is that why you’re acting funny?” She breathed out. “Of course you can’t answer me. Cough if they’re there. I’ll send a team of experts to retrieve them.”

Jean yanked the phone out of my hand and ended the call. “Looks like we can’t stay here.” The phone rang again. He crushed it and threw the remains to the floor. “You’re going to take us to this Hanji person. These highly important ‘research subjects’ want to have a word with her.”

“Wait,” I said. “What are you planning on doing to her?”

Instead of giving me a response, he turned to Eren. I stared at the ruined phone as they spoke, trying to think of a way to warn Hanji. Why did she have to call? If she knew about Eren and Jean, why would she take that chance?

“Time to go,” Jean announced.

“What?” I waited for an explanation, but neither of them bothered to give me one. Eren grabbed me by the arm and lugged me toward the front door. I had the strongest urge to resist, to use the last of my energy to put up a fight, but one look at him convinced me to not make a fuss. He looked exactly as he had when he’d choked me back at the facility. Ruthless. Merciless. Bloodthirsty. Right now, he wouldn’t show me any kindness. I just hoped Hanji was smart enough to put two and two together.

As Eren led me down the stairs to the parking lot, Jean, who was right behind us, said, “We’re going to stop at a store. We need some clothes.”

“Please tell me you’re joking. You’re can’t go in a store looking the way you do.” I eyed the dried blood on his arms and chest before I remembered they had the ability to vanish into thin air. Damn, they were so creepy. “Never mind.”

He grinned. “You’re catching on.”

“You’re not,” I said, patting my empty pockets. “I still don’t have my keys. How do you expect me to drive my car without them?”

The grin turned into something sinister. “Who says we’re taking your car?”

“You can’t mean...”

“Oh, I do. Your friend Hanji has probably already contacted the police. They’ll be looking for your car. We can’t have that. Can we, Eren?”

Eren smiled a very wicked smile.

God help me. I was at the mercy of two lunatics.

While I had a mental breakdown, Eren stopped in front of a blue lifted pickup truck. It was huge.

“No,” I said.

“Yes,” Eren and Jean said at the same time.

“I can’t drive that thing! Have you seen how short I am?”

To that, Eren yanked open the passenger side door (of course the prick who owned this big piece of shit left his doors unlocked) and lifted me into the seat.

“Who’s driving?” I asked, bewildered. The only answer I got was the door slamming shut behind me. I watched as Eren rounded the hood and went to the driver’s side. _He_ was driving? Did he even know how? _I’m going to die. Someone’s going to find my body smeared on the side of the road._ When he slid behind the wheel, I felt so lightheaded I was sure I would faint.

“I’m driving next,” Jean said as he climbed into the backseat.

Eren waved him off. Then he regarded me with excitement in his eyes. “Store?”

At that point, I accepted that I was as good as dead, so I pointed ahead. “Go straight. I’ll direct you from there.”

The engine roared to life. My heart thumped hard and fast in my chest, but then we were moving, and all I could do was hope I made it out of this alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you imagine being an alien and driving a big fucking truck for the first time? I laugh thinking about how excited Eren must look sitting behind the wheel. Poor, Levi, though. He's having a heart attack 😆
> 
> Oh, I also wrote the chase scene while listening to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2DLQp66ukw) song. Give it a listen, if you'd like. The original is good, too, but I've been listening to slowed down songs thanks to _someone._ I'm looking at you, Raiza.


	3. Chapter 3

Eren drove worse than a drunk. That is to say, he drove like a complete maniac.

We’d only been on the road for a few minutes, but he had already proven to me that he didn’t know anything about traffic laws or how to work a vehicle. It would be a miracle if we made it to the store in one piece.

“You need to slow down,” I said as we neared a red light. I tried to keep my voice level and calm, but I couldn’t quite manage it. My nerves were strung taut.

Eren paid me no mind. He picked up speed.

“What the hell are you doing? I said you need to slow down. The light’s red!” I unbuckled my seatbelt and leaned forward in the passenger seat in hopes of getting his attention. I pointed to the traffic light up ahead, almost smacking the front windshield in my panic. “That means you need to stop! Hit the brakes!” When Eren tipped his head to the side, obviously confused, I added in a rush, “The other pedal. Push down on the other pedal!”

His face lit up with understanding. He stamped his foot on the brake pedal and the truck jerked to a stop inches away from the intersection. The momentum sent me flying into the dashboard. My shoulder hit first, and pain zigzagged down my arm, but Eren didn’t seem to notice or care.

I righted myself. “You’re going to kill me before you can get the information you want.”

At that, Eren finally turned his attention to me. He gazed first at my neck—swollen and bruised by now—then the arm I had cradled against my chest.

“Humans are so fragile,” Jean said.

I made eye contact with him in the rearview me. “You say that like you’re not human.”

Silence, then, “I’m not.”

Before I had a chance to process that information, Eren leaned over the center console and grabbed my seatbelt. He tried to buckle me in, but he kept missing the latch.

“I got it,” I told him, brushing his hand aside. I expected him to return to his seat, but he grabbed my chin and angled my head back to inspect my neck. “Admiring your work?”

He ignored my question, instead keeping a tight hold on my chin while the same dark liquid from earlier leaked from his mouth again. This time it was thinner, almost transparent. He scooped some up on his finger and held it to my mouth. I kept my lips pressed together. He made a sound of irritation and squeezed my cheeks in an attempt to force my mouth open.

“Stop,” I said, word slurred. “What is that? _What is it?”_

Jean was the one who answered. “It’s venom.”

“Venom? Why would he want to give me venom?” I struggled against Eren’s hold. Had he had enough of me? Was he going to end it right here, in someone’s stupid big truck?

“That amount won’t kill you,” Jean said. “It’ll numb all your aches and pain, which is what he’s trying to do. Let him.”

I shook my head as best I could. “Don’t need it.”

Eren was tired of waiting for me to comply. He squeezed my cheeks with enough force to part my lips, then he swiped his finger across my tongue. When he let go of me, I slumped back in the seat. My tongue tingled. The pins and needles sensation crept down my throat, deepened, then faded altogether. I felt hot all over, the same kind of sluggish heat you feel when you’d had too much to drink. Was this the effect of his venom? I thought it would be more—Well, I didn’t know how it would be, but I didn’t expect it to be like this. I felt tipsy.

“I’m hot,” I said, more to myself than anyone else. I unzipped the front of my coveralls.

Eren, who hadn’t taken his eyes off me for a second, asked Jean something in that odd language of theirs.

Jean said to me, “He wants to know if you feel better.”

I stretched my arms above my head. Nothing ached anymore. “I do, actually, but the light’s green.” I caught sight of it when Eren leaned to the side to get a better look at me. I patted the side of his face, which brought his gaze up to mine. “That means go. You can drive like a maniac again.” I waited for him to move. I _wanted_ him to. The people behind us would start honking soon. What was he waiting for, anyway? I was fine now that he’d given me some of his venom.

_Jesus, things can’t get any weirder than this._

Instead of reclaiming his position behind the wheel, Eren unbuckled me.

“What’s gotten into you?” I asked. “The light.”

He ignored me—he was good at that—and tried to lift me into his arms.

“No.” I shoved at him.

He growled, more venom running from his mouth.

“Put the truck in park first,” I said.

He looked at me like he had no idea what I was talking about. He probably didn’t.

I leaned to the side and jerked the gear shift up to park. That seemed to be enough for him, because he lifted me up and eased me over his shoulder. Then he climbed into the back seat.

Jean grinned. “Guess it’s my turn to drive.”

“Just go straight until you hit Hoban Street, then take a right,” I said, not knowing if he would understand my directions. “There’s a store there. It’s open twenty-four hours.”

He slid behind the wheel, all confidence. “I’ll get us there.”

I had my doubts about that. He would end up colliding with another vehicle in no time, if he drove anything like Eren. I almost mentioned this to him, but decided it wouldn’t make much of a difference. Right then, I was too tired to care about anything other than the warmth coming off Eren as he propped me up against the back door. He smelled of blood. It twisted my stomach into knots, yet there was another scent that lured me closer. It was rich, heady, and it comforted me enough to make me forget just how dangerous he was.

Unable to stay upright, I rested my head on his shoulder and buried my face against the side of his neck. The rhythmic thud of his pulse lulled me into a semiconscious state, which was interrupted when a clicking sound issued from his throat. It reminded me of the sound the alien in the _Predator_ movie made, but these clicks were slower, deeper, making them that much more frightening. Was he warning me off?

Drowsy, I leaned back. “Sorry.”

He said nothing, only stared at me with an intensity that made me think it would be better if I didn’t make any sudden movements.

The tense silence was broken when Jean said, “Is that it?”

I followed his gaze, surprised to see the store I directed him to. “That is it.” 

“I told you I’d get us there.”

“You’re going to need to turn into the parking lot.” I sat up straighter. Eren’s eyes followed my every move. I did my best to ignore him. “Turn here.” I waited for Jean to turn, then I went on. “You should park in the back. A truck like this is easy to spot, and I’m sure the owner has already reported it stolen. Unlike you guys, I can’t vanish into thin air, so we should try to be as inconspicuous as we can. That is, unless you want me to get arrested.”

Jean scoffed. “We don’t vanish into thin air.”

“That’s all you got out of that?”

“We blend in with the environment,” he continued, as though I hadn’t spoken at all. “It’s camouflage. It renders us almost completely invisible.”

“You looked pretty invisible to me.”

“To the untrained eye, it would appear that way.” He parked in a secluded area, far from the entrance. Even back here, the truck stood out like a sore thumb, especially with how he parked it at an angle. It took up two spots and part of a third. “Then again”—his gazed raked over Eren, who paid no attention to him—“some of us are capable of a lot more.”

“Enough talking,” Eren said in a voice that demanded obedience. He added something in his own language, then he peered at me. His eyes shone turquoise, a color that burned like fire in the dim lighting. The sight of them glowing like that made me think back to what Jean had said earlier, about how he wasn’t human. If they weren’t, then what were they? What _could_ they be? “Levi.” The sound of my name startled me out of my musing. I lifted my gaze to meet his and listened. He only spoke two words: “Don’t run.”

I responded with the truth. “I wasn’t planning on it.” And I wasn’t. I was too exhausted to give him another chase. 

He scanned my face, nodded, then pushed open the door.

Going into the store with my work uniform on—which was dirty thanks to a certain someone—wasn’t the brightest idea, so I hurried through the process of slipping off my coveralls. Underneath I had on a plain white shirt and jeans that wouldn’t stick out in a crowd. Still, it wouldn’t be enough to convince anyone that the bruises on my throat weren’t something to worry about. People had a tendency to phone the cops when they sensed something was wrong. _And what’s the problem with that? Something_ is _wrong._ Yet, even as those thoughts crossed my mind, I touched my neck and said, “I’m going to have to figure out a way to hide these.”

Jean turned around in the front seat to regard me. “Why?”

“These bruises are obviously new.”

“And?” he said.

“And it goes back to being inconspicuous. When people notice something like this, they call the police.”

He thought this over. In the end, he saw things my way. “I’ll see what I can find.” He got out of the truck, but before he could do much of anything, Eren picked up what looked to be a gym bag. It had been shoved underneath the seats.

“Let me see that.” I took it from him and unzipped the top compartment. The smell of old sour sweat wafted out. I zipped it back up. “Okay, I’m not wearing anything that comes out of here.”

To my surprise, Eren grabbed the bag and flung it out of the truck. He must’ve not liked the smell, either.

“What was that?” Jean asked as he appeared by the open door.

“Nothing important,” I said.

Eren said, _“Sluk.”_

I shot him a questioning look. “What does that mean?”

Jean crossed his arms over his chest. “It means ‘shit.’”

_“Sluk?”_ I said.

_“Sluk,”_ Eren agreed, serious.

Something came over me then. I burst out laughing, which was so unlike me, I laughed harder. I blamed it on the craziness of the night and the effects of the venom.

“We don’t have time for this.” Jean didn’t wait around for me to recover from my laughing fit. He started rummaging through the truck with an expression of annoyance plastered on his face, shoving my legs aside to get at the space beneath the seats. He found nothing worthwhile until he checked a pouch slung around the headrest of the passenger seat. From there, he pulled out a grey tank top that had seen better days. It was wrinkled and holey. “This isn’t much, but it will have to do. Here.” He held it out to me. “You can use this to hide the bruises.”

I grabbed it and gave it a sniff. It smelled like nothing in particular, so I secured it around my neck. “You guys won’t show yourselves inside, will you? You’ll do your invisible act?”

“We’ll camouflage ourselves,” Jean corrected. “No one will see us, but we’ll be there, so—”

“Don’t run. I know.” I hopped out of the truck and started for the front entrance. The sound of the door slamming behind me assured me they were close behind. “We’re going to get this over with as fast as we can. The longer we’re inside, the more chances of someone finding out something’s wrong.”

Jean caught up to me. Right before my eyes, he disappeared from view, but his voice came from right beside me as he said, “It seems Eren’s venom has gone straight to your head. Before leaving your home, you didn’t want to help us in any way. Now look at you.” Something brushed the tank top wrapped around my neck. “You don’t want us to get caught. Why? Are you planning something?”

“No.”

“Then explain why you’re not putting up a fight?”

“I already have,” I snapped. “Or haven’t you been paying attention? I put up a fight at the facility and got strangled for my efforts. Then I made a run for it at my apartment complex and ended up getting chased and caught. I’m too tired to try again. What good would it do me, anyway? I’ve seen what you and Eren are capable of. I know I can’t win against the two of you—at least not here.”

He chuckled. “I can see why he’s interested in you.”

“Who?”

“Eren.”

I did not know how to respond to that, so I kept quiet. There was already too much to think about to throw that into the mix. “There are people up ahead. You should stop talking.”

“Are you telling me to shut up?”

“What do you think?”

Again came the chuckle. “Point taken.”

As I passed through the automatic sliding doors, ignoring everyone who glanced at me, my thoughts went to Hanji. By now, she would have assembled a small team to go check out my apartment. When she found the front door broken and me missing, she would reach the conclusion that I was with her research subjects, but where would she go from there? Part of me believed she would be smart enough to devise an airtight plan that would guarantee the capture of Eren and Jean, but another part of me knew she would throw any plan out the window if she knew my life was at stake.

I’d known Hanji since we were twelve years old. She was also responsible for getting me a job at the research facility. If anything happened to me, she would blame herself. That’s why I knew she would attempt to handle this situation by herself.

I hoped I was wrong.

When I reached the men’s section, I said, under my breath, “What size clothes should I get you guys? You’re both huge.”

Neither of them responded, but the shirts on the rack in front of me started to move on their own. Or at least that’s how it looked like to me.

“That’s creepy,” I whispered.

“Just keep watch.” That came from Jean, who sounded like he was right next to me. So, he was the one going through the shirts.

“Fine.” I turned towards the main aisle and that’s when I saw shirts being thrown to the floor. “Eren? Is that you?”

A grunt.

“Stop doing that,” I hissed. “People are going to notice.”

This time Eren spoke in his own language. I understood nothing but the word “sluk.” Did that mean he thought the clothes were shit?

For fuck’s sake.

I bent down to gather all the shirts he had dropped. Once I hung them back up, I grabbed a shirt he hadn’t disapproved of. It was a flannel button-down. “What about this one?”

The only response I got was him swiping it out of my grasp.

“Unbelievable.”

“He’s not a fan of clothes,” Jean said.

“Then why the hell are we here?”

“Because we need clothes.”

I was going to lose my mind.

Struggling to keep my composure, I picked up the shirt Eren had knocked out of my hand. I didn’t bother hanging it back up. I flung it over the rack, and turned around to face him. Or at least I turned in the direction I thought he was in.

“Look,” I began, “if you keep doing this, you’re going to draw attention to us. I’m surprised someone hasn’t already been sent to check on me. See that?” I pointed to the ceiling, where a dome security camera was. “That’s a camera. It’s mainly used to catch shoplifters, but I think the person watching the security monitors will find it odd that shirts are floating around in midair.”

“Someone’s watching us?” Jean asked, sounding more angry than alarmed. “You should have told us this as soon as we entered the store, but don’t worry, we’ll take care of it. Wait here.”

“What do you mean ‘wait here’? Where are you going?”

No response.

I had a bad feeling about this. What if they’d run off to find the security guards watching the monitors? Jean had told me there was no reason for them to shed more blood tonight, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t when the circumstances called for it. And if they had gone to kill innocent people—people who were only doing their job—the one to blame was me. I had mentioned the cameras in hopes of convincing Eren to stop throwing clothes on the floor. If I knew it would lead to something like this, I never would have brought it up.

Something shattered. The sharp sound of glass breaking made me look down. Shards of thick black plastic lay on the floor a few feet in front of me. It could only be one thing.

I glanced up. As I did, another security camera was ripped out of a ceiling tile, sending down a spray of plaster. The camera itself came next. It hit the floor and broke apart. I stared at it in disbelief, then I returned my gaze to the ceiling. There was nothing there for me to see. _That’s not true. They’re there somewhere, both of them._ I looked harder and... There! A slight distortion, like seeing something under a magnifying glass. That had to be one of them.

I kept my gaze fixed on the spot, watching it move with ease across the ceiling. Then it detached itself and free fell to the floor. It landed in front of me.

“Eren?” I asked.

A scoff, then, “No.”

“Jean?”

“Who else?” He moved past me. I couldn’t see him, but I felt the brush of his arm against mine as he reached for a pair of jeans. “We can’t stay here for much longer.” A sound of irritation left him. “Why are all of these clothes too short?”

“They’re not too short. You and Eren are just too big. How tall are you, anyway?”

“How do you humans measure your height again?”

“In feet and inches,” I told him.

“Then I’m six feet, three inches.”

“And Eren?”

He huffed out of breath. “You seem mighty interested in Eren.”

“Just answer the question. I need to find him clothes, so we can get out of here.”

“He’s six feet, two inches.”

God, they were giants.

“Look for pants that are thirty-two by thirty-six,” I said, already searching for some. “And you’ll both need a tall shirt.”

“That’s what it’s called? A tall shirt?”

“For giants like you, yes.”

It took me a while to find the right sized pants, but luckily, there was more than one pair. I handed one to Jean, then tucked another one under my arm as I went in search of a shirt. There were none on the rack that would fit either of them. I walked to another aisle where shirts were kept in polybags and hunted through them. All I found were mediums and extra smalls, at least on the shelves I could reach. There were more on the top shelf.

I reached up, forced to stand on tiptoe. My back screamed in protest. I winced. When Eren had knocked me to the ground earlier, he had pulled a muscle in my lower back.

Something warm grazed my waist. I whirled around. There was no one there, and no distortion, yet when I stretched out my hand, I touched something solid.

“Eren?” A finger slid under my chin and tipped my head back. I stared up at nothing. “What are you doing?”

Silence. Then something brushed across my lips.

“Open your mouth.”

I recognized Eren’s voice, and without having to ask, I knew what he wanted to give me. A small part of me craved it. Still, I said, “No. I don’t need it.”

“Levi.”

“No.”

He released me. I reached out without thought, catching his hand in mine, and then everything happened at once. He shoved two of his fingers into my mouth. Almost at once, my tongue grew heavy and warm from his venom. Saliva ran thick from the corners of my mouth as he pushed his fingers to the back of my throat, but I didn’t care. I grabbed onto his wrist, too far gone to think about what I was doing. I felt so hot, breathless, my heart fluttering in my chest. 

“Am I interrupting?” Jean’s voice cut through the haze like a knife. I took several steps back on unsteady legs. They were both visible now.

“You are,” Eren said while keeping his eyes on me. He was looking at me with a strange expression on his face. It was hostile, feral. Hungry.

Jean tossed a shirt to him, not seeming to care that he’d disturbed us. “We don’t have time for your games. The more time we spend here, the more time the woman Hanji has to prepare for us.”

Eren bared his teeth. He murmured something, but I couldn’t understand the words.

“What did he say?” I said in a voice that sounded too thick and slow.

Jean regarded me. “He said it’s time to meet your friend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sure the majority of you have watched or heard about the movie Predator, but basically... that's what Eren and Jean are 😅 It wasn't intentional, trust me. It was a coincidence that they happen to have a lot of the same attributes, like camouflage, making creepy click-y sounds and, well, being aliens. But I do imagine Eren sounding more like the clickers from the game The Last of Us. They make a low croaking clicking sound, and I have to admit that I love thinking about Eren making those scary noises. Creepy Eren is hot, okay? I live and breathe creepy Eren these days.  
> Also, I made Eren and Jean taller than I originally planned (you can blame my bestie and partner in crime for that; she loves to encourage me to embrace my thirst lol). I like big boys. Therefore, I made them big boys, even though they're already big af at 19 in the manga. I just, you know, gave them a slight boost. 
> 
> Oh, before I forget, because I've forgotten to link you guys to this in the previous chapters, here's how I picture Eren's eyes: [👀](https://i.etsystatic.com/9412425/r/il/24af3b/1570768042/il_1588xN.1570768042_6c37.jpg)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout out to all the people who leave me comments. You are seen and appreciated! ♡  
> I know a lot of authors on here take the time to respond to everyone, and kudos to them, because I'm incapable of that. I'm socially awkward (yes, even online), and my brain can't come up with responses that don't sound repetitive. I'm sorry, but your girl only has two working brain cells at any given time lol. Still, thank you for leaving me feedback. I love reading your guys' thoughts about the chapters. :)

“Do you remember what I told you to say, or do I have to repeat myself?” Jean asked when I hesitated to put the two quarters into the slot of the payphone.

The three of us were standing behind a gas station convenience store, a good distance away from any streetlights, but even hidden in shadows, Jean’s glowing eyes were easy to spot. He hadn’t bothered to camouflage himself. I couldn’t say the same for Eren, who had disappeared the second we stepped out of the truck. That would have concerned me if he wasn’t close enough to touch. All I had to do to run into him was take a step back.

“I remember everything you said.” I let my hand fall to my side. The quarters clinked together. “You want me to tell Hanji to meet you at a location you’ve chosen.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

“I want to know what you’re going to do to her.”

Jean smiled, revealing curved canines that looked too sharp. “I don’t think you should concern yourself with that.”

“I won’t call her if you’re planning on hurting her,” I said.

“You’re forgetting the position you’re in. Allow me to remind you.” He reached out with such speed, I had no hopes of dodging his attack, but his hand stopped in midair, inches away from my throat. It was only when he winced in pain that the truth dawned on me. Eren had caught him by the wrist. _“Qu’ut uj lac gaeid?”_

The words made no sense to me, yet Eren responded with, _“Ga’et taisr rij. Ro ic jien.”_

Jean laughed with no humor. _“Lac ic u pa’ah.”_ Then, in English, “Release me. I won’t lay a hand on him.” Once free, he fixed me with a cold stare. “What happens to your friend depends on her. If she knows what we are and what we’re capable of, then she shouldn’t be stupid enough to try anything. The reason we are here is far more important than her life or yours. So, make no mistake”—he stepped up to me, making me to tip my head back to meet his gaze—“if you get in the way of us completing our mission, it doesn’t matter what Eren says, I will kill you. I will kill _anyone_ who stands in our way. Have I made myself clear on that?”

“You have,” I replied.

“Good.” He grabbed the phone and held it out to me. “Now call her.”

With a sense of unease, I took the phone from him and slid the quarters into the slot. Then I dialed Hanji’s home number and waited.

“Levi?” Hanji answered in a frantic voice on the first ring. “Is that you?”

“It is.”

She blew out a shaky breath. “It’s a miracle you’re still alive. You need to tell me where you are. I’ve gathered a team. They are waiting for my call—”

“No, no team. It’s important that you listen to me now.”

“What is it? What are they telling you to say?”

“They want to meet with you,” I said, adding, “Alone.”

“And if I don’t meet with them alone, what then?”

At that, Jean snatched the phone out of my hand. An expression of annoyance crossed his face when the short length of the cord forced him to bend down. “You have the nerve to ask that?” he said in a serious tone. “We’ve been kind to your friend Levi so far, but that can always change. In fact, now that I take a closer look at him, he does appear to have some bruises on his neck. And what a delicate looking neck it is. It would be so easy to break.” He grinned as he listened to something Hanji said on the other end. “Oh, did I hit a nerve? If this human means that much to you, then I’m sure you will be wise enough to listen to basic instructions. I would hate to have to bring your friend to you in pieces. Not that there would be a lot to show you. He’s a rather small man.”

“Fuck you,” I mouthed.

Jean’s grin turned into a taunting smiling. “He has quite a mouth on him too. I might forget myself and—”

“Talk, talk, talk,” Eren grumbled from behind me. “All you do is talk.”

“At least I can talk,” Jean retorted, covering the mouthpiece of the phone, “Mr. I-Can-Only-Say-Ten-Words-In-English.”

Eren dropped his camouflage. He appeared beside me and reached out with blurring speed to tear the phone out of Jean’s grasp. When he handed it to me, he said, “Tell her.”

They continued to argue. For a moment I considered taking advantage of them being distracted, but then Jean shot me a sideways glance that warned me not to do anything stupid.

_So much for that._

I sighed, knowing I had to go through with what they wanted me to do.

“Hanji, are you still there?” I asked.

“How badly did they hurt you?”

I touched my neck. Even through the fabric of the tank top, a sudden throb of pain made me clench my teeth. Eren’s venom was wearing off. It didn’t seem to last long with how little he gave me. _What the hell am I thinking?_ _He gave me more than enough._ “That doesn’t matter,” I said, irritated with my train of thought. “You heard him, right? If you come with a team, I’ll have more than a couple of bruises to deal with.”

“You’ll have more to deal with either way. Once they have the information they want, we’ll be disposable.”

“What other choice do we have?”

“Just tell me where they want to meet and leave the rest to me.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but once she made up her mind about something, she wouldn’t listen to anyone. I only hoped she had enough sense to not show up with a horde of people. “Do you know the cemetery out on Maywood Road? They want to meet at the park behind it.”

“How fitting.”

“Hanji”—I gave a quick glance in Jean’s direction and my gaze clashed with Eren’s—“come alone.” I hung up and didn’t stick around for the creeps to ask me questions. I walked to the truck, pulled the back door open, and began the struggle of climbing in. The pain in my back made it harder than it needed to be. I’d just about given up when someone put their hands on my waist and hoisted me up. “What...?” I looked over my shoulder. Eren was flicking his hand to the side, motioning for me to move aside. When I did, he climbed in and sat beside me, close enough that our legs touched. “There’s plenty of room. Scoot over.”

Instead of giving me space, he moved closer, loosening the tank top from around my neck. It fell away. He brushed the bruises with a gentle touch of his fingers. “Hurt?” he asked.

“Of course it hurts. You choked me.”

He touched his finger to the corner of his mouth, where his venom was already beginning to leak out.

“No,” I said, firm. “No more venom. I’m good without it.”

_“Lac uj nat.”_

“You know I can’t understand your language.”

He looked around, as though the right words would appear in front of him. At last, he settled for, “Why?”

“It makes me sleepy.” It did a lot more than that. It clouded my mind, numbed all my pain, and put me in a vulnerable position, which was something I couldn’t afford right then. 

“Sleep...good.”

“Not when you’re in a situation like mine.” I moved away from him, hoping that would be the end of it. It wasn’t. He closed the distance between us. “Look, I’m serious. I don’t want any venom.”

Eren huffed out a breath.

“You can huff all you want,” I said. “No means no.”

The engine starting up jarred me back to the present. My thoughts went to Hanji. If she knew how dangerous Eren and Jean were—and I had no doubt she did—she wouldn’t come alone. What would they do to her if she showed up with back up? It would be easier for them to run, but they didn’t strike me as the type that would flee from their enemies. They were both strong, and had abilities that set them apart from the rest. I had to wonder if they were capable of taking down a group of heavily armed men.

“This friend of yours,” Jean began, adjusting the rearview mirror, “sounds like she won’t listen.”

“She will.”

He snorted. “You know you don’t believe that. And neither do I.”

“What if she doesn’t come alone?” I asked. “What will you do then?”

“You already know the answer to those questions.”

“Are you saying you can take down a team of trained men?”

“With ease.”

Anger gripped me. “This is just a game to you, isn’t it? Me and Hanji are nothing more than pawns. Once we’ve served our purpose, you’ll get rid of us.” _And if that’s the case, why am I sitting back and doing nothing?_ I took hold of the door handle and...

In one quick movement, Eren had both of my wrists trapped in one of his hands.

I yanked my arms upward. “Let go!”

“Stop,” he said.

I fought harder.

“Enough.”

“No,” I shot back.

“Levi, _enough!”_

I looked at him, desperate and exhausted. “Why are you doing this? I didn’t want any of this. I was just working. I didn’t do anything.” I let my arms go limp in his grasp. “I don’t know what you want.”

Eren let go of my hands and lifted his to cup my face. He kept his eyes locked with mine as he said something to Jean in their language. They went back and forth for a while, Jean sounding more irritated by the second.

“I’m going to translate for him,” Jean said after a while, “so listen up.” He muttered something under his breath, and then continued. “‘Your friend, Hanji, has information that we need. If she complies, no harm will come to her. But you must understand something here and now: I won’t release you.’”

My anger resurfaced. “I’m your bargaining chip.”

Eren nodded, still holding my gaze.

I laughed, although it sounded more bitter than joyful. “I see. You need Hanji to cooperate with you until your mission is complete, but you know she won’t do that unless you have something to use against her. That something is me. That must be why you keep offering me your venom. You want to keep me in tiptop shape for the sake of using me to keep her in line.”

He looked half insane as a smile lifted the corners of his mouth. He angled my head back, eyes burning like green fire. “Don’t misunderstand,” he said in a growly voice that did not sound human. He ran his thumb across my bottom lip, tugging it down. “ _I ko’of lac paj ro_. I keep you for me.”

All the anger went out of me. I stared at him, too shocked to utter a word.

What did he mean he kept me for him?

Jean broke the silence. “Enough nonsense. We’re here.”

That snapped me out of it. I shoved Eren aside and peered out the window. No cars. The parking lot was empty except for a red Prius. At the sight of it, dread crept over me, sending a chill down my spine that left me dizzy and faint. That wasn’t Hanji’s car.

I tried to think of something to say, something that would make them understand why she hadn’t come alone, but nothing came to mind. _Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe she did come alone._ But then I saw them, two figures standing under a streetlamp. One was Hanji, the other was a man I didn’t know.

“She’s with someone.” Jean parked the truck at an angle and killed the engine. 

“They have no weapons,” I said, panicked. “They’re no threat to you. You see that, don’t you?” I turned to Eren. Instead of giving me a reply, he grabbed my arm, opened the back door, and stepped out, dragging me along with him.

As we approached Hanji, her face remained expressionless, but her eyes stayed fixed on my neck, even when we stopped in front of her. The man beside her took little interest in me or my injuries. He was a slender man, his blonde hair kept short and straight. He hadn’t taken his eyes off Eren for a second. Did he know what Eren was. And if he did, why had he put his life at risk by coming here?

“You brought someone,” said Jean from behind us. “It seems you don’t understand the meaning of ‘come alone.’”

“I understand perfectly well what it means.” Hanji regarded him with a cold stare. “But you and I both know one more person won’t make much of a difference.”

“You’re right in that, but who is he? Another scientist?”

A smile lit up the man’s face at the sound of those questions. He went up to Jean without any regard for his safety and offered him his hand. “Hi, I’m Armin. I’m Hanji’s assistant.” When Jean made no move to shake his hand, Armin let his arm drop. “Sorry, it’s a force of habit. I suppose your kind doesn’t greet each other that way.”

“You know what I am?”

“Oh, yes! Hanji and I have been working with one—”

“Armin,” Hanji said.

He looked back at her, abashed. “I’ve said too much. Sorry.”

She gestured to a nearby picnic table. “Let’s take a seat. We have a lot to discuss.”

Eren kept a firm hold on my arm as he led me to the table. When I sat down and moved to the middle, he came to sit on my right while Jean took the empty spot to my left. They were closing me in. That told me they took Hanji serious enough to guard me throughout this exchange. She sensed it, too. Her eyes found mine as she took a seat opposite me.

“I’ll speak to the one who is in charge,” she said.

“Well, that’ll be him”—Jean jerked a thumb at Eren—“but he doesn’t speak much of your language, so I’m afraid I’ll be doing most of the talking.”

She looked at Eren. “Tell me what you want to know.”

Eren began to speak.

Jean was quick to translate. “He said there was a woman back at the facility that claimed more of our people were being held at a different location. Is there any truth to that?”

“There is,” Hanji admitted.

Eren leaned forward. “How many?”

“Only one, but I’m certain he’s of great importance to you. At least he was to the others. They willingly sacrificed their lives to keep him safe.”

“Where is he?”

She raised an eyebrow. “You speak a lot more than your partner led me to believe.”

_“Where is he?”_ Eren repeated, slamming his fist down on the table. It shook from the blow.

“He’s safe,” Hanji told him, “which is more than I can say for my friend here.” She scanned my throat. “It’s a wonder you didn’t break his neck.”

Jean slung his arm around my shoulders and pulled me in close. “We can always rectify that.”

While they argued about what would become of me, I caught sight of the first rays of sun peeking over the horizon. Various shades of orange were lighting up the sky. It felt like time had slowed to a crawl since the emergency alarm went off at the facility, yet the sun was rising. That meant it had to be around six in the morning. If none of this had happened, I would have been at home, asleep.

_Why did this happen?_ I asked myself as I glanced at Hanji. I wanted to believe she had nothing to do with any of this, but she knew too much about Eren and Jean for that to be true. How involved was she?

“I want to know what’s going on,” I said. I spoke loud enough to be heard over Jean, who stopped mid-sentence to look at me. “I think I deserve to know why my life is on the line.”

“There’s no need for you to get more involved than you already are,” Hanji said. “I’ll take care of everything.”

Jean glared her down. “It makes sense why you don’t want him to know the truth. It puts you in a bad light.” He turned towards me. “Your friend had a hand in the murders of our people. And now she’s keeping the last known survivor from us.”

“I don’t have the authority to release him to you,” she retorted.

“We don’t need authority! Just tell us where the facility is located, and we’ll go get him ourselves.”

“And kill everyone who works there in the process.”

“As if we’ll be given any other choice. They’ll attack us on sight.”

Beside me, Eren began to make a low croaking sound. Venom ran from his mouth, thick and dark. The next time Hanji spoke, he cut her off with a growl. “I’ve heard enough,” he said. “Tell me where Falco is.”

“Falco?” Hanji looked thoughtful. “So, that’s his name. Who is he to you?”

Jean bared his teeth. For the first time that night, venom leaked from the corners of his mouth. “You have no right to ask us any questions.”

“On the contrary, I think I have every right. I’m the one who knows where Falco is.”

“Stop it already,” Armin said in a small voice. He had kept quiet this entire time, but now he spoke up. “We didn’t come here to fight. Hanji’s only putting up a front to get her friend back. She means you no harm.” He looked at Jean. “Falco can’t speak English well, but with what little he knows, he’s asked about his people. When he learned they were all dead, he stopped cooperating with us. He won’t eat, and he hardly sleeps. For the past couple of weeks, he hasn’t been doing well. I want to help you, but it’s not that easy. Like Hanji said, we can’t release him to you. We don’t even have the clearance to see him, not without proper authority. And the facility he’s being kept at isn’t like the others. It’s heavily guarded, and they’re ready for you. More than you know.”

“Don’t say anymore,” Hanji cautioned.

Armin pressed on, despite her warning. “Take me in Levi’s place. I have all the information you want. I can help you.”

All of us went quiet. Then Hanji said, “Have you lost your mind! I know you want to help, but they’re dangerous!”

Jean stood up, which drew everyone’s attention. “You expect me to believe you want to help us when you’ve killed so many of our people.”

“Not us. We never hurt anyone.” Armin got to his feet, pressed his hands flat on the table, and leaned forward. “My offer still stands. Me for Levi. You know I’m a better hostage than him.”

To that, Eren only had one thing to say: “No.”

“Can you tell me why?” Armin asked.

Eren spoke in his own language.

Unable to understand, Hanji looked to Jean. “What is he saying?”

“He says if you truly want to help us, then you will, regardless if you’re a hostage or not. And”—he gazed at Eren, then sighed—“he won’t release Levi.”

“Are you afraid we won’t help you? We will! I swear to that.” Hanji shot to her feet. “Please, just let Levi go.”

“No,” Eren said.

A mixture of anger and panic twisted her features. She opened her mouth to speak again, but I intervened.

“It’s all right,” I told her. “I’ll be fine.”

A tear ran down her cheek. She wiped it away, her lips set in a grim line. “I will return Falco to you,” she said to Eren. “And when I do, I expect Levi to be freed. Give me your word that you will release him unharmed.”

Eren nodded once.

Hanji’s eyes flicked to me. “You can’t go back to your apartment. Erwin’s having it monitored.”

“We’ll find a place to stay,” Jean said.

“Where?”

He jerked his chin in the direction of Armin’s car. “It’s time for you to go. We’ll contact you when we need you.”

She looked at me, all the fear she felt evident on her face. Then, turning to Armin, she strode to his car. I watched them go. They didn’t glance back at us, not until they were about to pull out of the parking lot. I wish they didn’t. They were staring at me like they thought they would never see me again.

And, for all I knew, maybe they wouldn’t.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually planned to have a steamy scene in this chapter, but then I thought of a better, more steamier scene, so look forward to that next chapter (which hopefully doesn't take 100 years to post).  
> P.S. Writing an alien language is hard! I tried my best, but obviously I'm no expert in coming up with a completely new language. One thing I want to point out, though, is even though I used the English alphabet, I don't imagine them pronouncing the words like we would. They sound like you would expect an alien from outer space to sound, completely foreign and creepy.
> 
> But here's the translation for what my dudes are saying throughout this chapter:
> 
>  _Qu’ut uj lac gaeid?_ = What are you doing?  
>  _Ga’et taisr rij. Ro ic jien._ = Don't touch him. He is mine.  
>  _Lac ic u pa’ah._ = You are a fool.  
>  _Lac uj nat._ = You are not.  
>  _I ko’of lac paj ro._ = I keep you for me (our boy Eren translates for Levi here, but just in case you were wondering if it meant something different)


	5. Chapter 5

| Eren |

The inability to talk to Levi frustrated me. I hadn’t bothered to learn how to speak the language of humans. I had no need to. I was sent here to locate Falco’s whereabouts and bring him home safely, not to exchange words with the people who had murdered my kind. Jean was the one responsible for any negotiations. Any talking that needed to be done would be left to him, yet being unable to communicate with Levi frustrated me all the same. He hadn’t said a word since we’d left the park. What was he thinking? And why did I care?

_“There’s a safe location not far from here,”_ Jean said. He spoke our language, but Levi sat up straight nonetheless, alert. _“It’s an abandoned boarding house. It’s not much, but it’ll do until we find a better place.”_ He made eye contact with me in the rearview mirror as he slowed to a stop at a red light. We’d been on the road for more than an hour, putting good distance between us and the woman known as Hanji. No matter what she said, neither of us trusted her. _“One of us needs to go back to the ship. We need to retrieve our weapons.”_

_“We won’t need them. Even if the facility Falco is being kept at is under heavy guard, they aren’t prepared for us. They are comparing our strength to the men who were with Falco. That’s a mistake they will soon regret.”_

Jean held my gaze. _“It’s better to be well-equipped and ready for anything.”_

_“Then go get them. I’ll stay behind to watch over Levi.”_

At that, his expression changed to one of disapproval. _“Whatever you say.”_

As we turned onto a wide dirt road, Levi glanced out the window and took in the vast open fields. Aside from the boarding house, there was nothing out here.

“This is where we’re staying?” he asked.

“It doesn’t look like much, but according to”—he paused—“a friend, it has running water and a place for you to sleep.”

Levi’s eyes went from me to Jean. “A friend? You mean to tell me there’s another one out there that’s like you two?”

“More or less.”

The color drained from Levi’s face. He dropped his eyes and went back to saying nothing. He feared us. They all did. We were the unknown, the creatures who never hesitated to kill our human enemies, yet it wasn’t us who picked this fight. The soldiers who had swarmed Falco’s fallen ship and taken my people captive were responsible for this unrest. They had begun something I was going to finish. By the end of this, I would make sure they remembered exactly who I was.

Jean parked the truck behind the two-story house. Exposure to the sun had faded the yellow paint to an off-white. Not that there was a lot of paint left. Most of it had chipped away.

“I’ll be back before dark,” Jean said, eyeing the broken windows.

That caught Levi’s attention. “Where are you going?”

“To get food and clothing. There’s nothing here for us.”

“We’ll come with you.”

“No. You’ll draw too much attention. Plus, I work better alone.”

Levi looked on the verge of putting up another fight, but then he came to his senses and pushed the back door open. I followed him out. Once I slammed the door shut behind us, Jean drove off. He wouldn’t be back by nightfall. We wouldn’t see him till tomorrow morning. Our ship was too far from here to make it back before then.

“Will he kill people?” asked Levi.

“No.” It wasn’t a lie. There would no doubt be soldiers stationed at the crash site, posted there to keep an eye out for us, but Jean would spare them and slip past them unseen. We couldn’t afford to alert them of our presence. Not yet. Not until we knew where Falco was. Until then, we would remain hidden. “Come.” I led Levi to the front door, which was hanging sideways on its hinges. When I opened it, a cloud of dust greeted us.

Levi went into the house, every step slow and cautious. A thick layer of dust covered the floor of the front room. Overhead, cobwebs filled every corner. “I find it hard to believe that the water’s on,” he said. “It looks like this place has been abandoned for years.” He swept a dead leaf aside with the toe of his shoe. Then he looked at me, blue eyes scrutinizing my face. “Do you have any idea where the bedroom is? Or the bathroom?”

I shook my head.

He sighed. “Come on, let’s go find everything. I don’t want to go anywhere alone. This place gives me the creeps.” He started walking, then stopped. “On second thought, you give me the creeps, too. Stay back a bit.”

“Creeps?” What did that mean?

“It means you freak me out.”

I tipped my head to the side. “Freak you out?”

“Forget it. Just come on.” He headed for the stairs and started up the steps. At the halfway point, he looked back to make sure I was following. It was a bad idea. A shaky gasp left him when he saw that I was right behind him. “God don’t do that! Someone as big as you shouldn’t be able to be so quiet. Make some kind of noise next time. Shit...” He put his hand on his chest. “My heart is pounding.”

I inhaled, a flap in my throat moving back and forth, which caused a rhythmic clicking sound to issue from my mouth.

“Jesus, not that kind of sound,” he said in a rush.

“Why?”

“Because it’s creepy and it usually means you’re about to kill someone.”

If I had the words, I would have told him that the sound I’d just made was meant to calm him, not alarm him. But I didn’t have the words, so instead I said, “Go.”

Levi turned around and climbed the rest of the steps. On the second floor, he pushed open all the doors he came across. All the rooms were alike—empty, dirty, foul-smelling—but the second to last one gave him what he wanted. A bare mattress had been pushed up against the far wall, and to the right of it, an opened door revealed a small bathroom with a walk-in shower. “I don’t even care that there are no sheets,” he said as he knelt to unlace his tennis shoes. “I’ve never been more tired in my life. I have you and Jean to thank for that.”

“Sleep then.”

He removed his shoes and socks. “I will, but first I’m rinsing off. You should do the same. Unless you enjoy having dried blood all over you.” With that he walked into the bathroom, but before shutting the door, he poked his head out and added, “Don’t come in.” The snick of the latch sounded loud and final.

For the time being, I focused my attention on the mattress. It was too clean to have been left here by the previous owners of the boarding house. That told me Ymir had brought it, the so-called “friend” of ours. She was no friend of mine. She had been sent here to keep an eye on Jean and me, to make sure we were staying on track. I didn’t like to be babysat. I was more than capable of bringing Falco home. I didn’t need the likes of her keeping tabs on me.

The low groan of pain that came from the bathroom erased all thoughts of Ymir. I rushed inside without thought. Steam billowed up from the shower, and through the textured glass of the sliding door, I could see that Levi was hunched over. I slid the door open on its tracks.

“Get out,” said Levi through clenched teeth, straightening up and turning around, but I had already seen the deep bruise that started at his right shoulder and went down to the middle of his back. “Didn’t I tell you not to come in?”

“Your back...”

“Who do you think left me like this?” He stared at me in an accusing manner. Then he shut the door.

I didn’t leave the bathroom. I stood beside the sink and waited.

When Levi had run from us back at his apartment complex, I had felt nothing but annoyance. I’d been expecting it to happen. All the humans at the research facility had run too. The only difference was when I’d caught them, they had all begged for their lives—every single one of them. But not Levi. Even though he feared me, he had looked into my eyes with defiance and anger, which sent a thrill through me that proved impossible to ignore. It was like a lamb standing up to a lion. Still, in my excitement, I had hurt him more than I’d intended to. Why did humans have to be such frail things, with birdlike bones that were too easy to break?

Levi said nothing as he stepped out of the shower a short while later. There was a clean towel hanging from the rack, courtesy of Ymir. He grabbed it and dried himself off.

He was small, his skin unblemished and pale as porcelain. He looked so delicate.

“You’re staring,” he said, clutching the towel to his chest. It didn’t cover up much.

Against my better judgement, I wanted to reassure him that I had no intention of harming him, but again I lacked the words.

“If you have nothing to say—” He broke off when I stepped up to him. With a featherlight touch, I brushed the bruises on his neck with the back of my hand. “Do they bother you? You’re the one that gave them to me.”

“I know,” I said.

He sighed. “I’m tired, but I doubt I’ll get much sleep. My back hurts.” He turned his attention to the wall. “So... Just this once I’ll let you give me your venom. To help me sleep,” he added right away.

I slid my fingers beneath his chin and angled his head back. Back at the store, I had only given him a small amount and the effects hadn’t lasted long. I would give him a little more this time around.

“I don’t have all day,” Levi snapped.

I lifted my fingers to my mouth, but stopped short. There had to be a more efficient way to give him venom. Perhaps directly from the source would be best. Leaning down, I pressed my lips to his.

“What are you doing?” He reared back, putting his hands over my mouth. The towel fell to the floor.

“It’s easy like this,” I explained.

“Do you even know what that means? ...What you’re doing?”

“Helping you sleep.”

He dropped his hands. “You really don’t know.” Then, in a louder voice, “Oh, for fuck’s sake, just do it already!”

I pulled him against me and pressed my lips down on his once more. The glands below my jaw swelled with venom, the thick liquid mixing with saliva as it filled my mouth. I only needed to give him a bit, yet when his lips parted beneath mine, I lost my train of thought. He tasted sweet. I tried to regain control of myself, of my senses, but Levi stood on tiptoes and wrapped his arms around my neck, breaking my concentration. His small body was so warm and soft. It made me mindless.

_I have to stop. He’s already had too much._ I leaned back in a final attempt to put an end to this, but Levi followed, his tongue brushing against mine. The instincts I kept at bay awoke in that instant. I growled and wound my fingers in his hair, yanking his head to the side to taste his mouth fully. His scent drove me crazy, clean and sweet. Everything about him was sweet. I wanted more of it.

_What is he doing to me? Why can’t I stop?_

When he pressed himself against me a moment later, everything in me went white-hot. I broke our lips apart, frantic, and sought out the pulse at his throat. I wanted to taste him here. Going on instinct, I forced his head to the side and sunk my teeth into the base of his neck, biting down hard enough to tear through his flesh. Blood rushed into my mouth. The richness of it inflamed me. As I lapped at the wound with my tongue, Levi shuddered, his body stiffening before going completely lax. His head rolled to the side in a way that slammed me back to reality. I pulled away, eyes darting down to his face. His neck was soaked in blood, thin trails of it ran down his collarbones. He didn’t seem to notice it. From the look of him, he didn’t seem to notice anything other than me.

“No more,” I said in a rough voice.

Levi blinked, dazed. With some effort, he pulled himself together enough to nod in agreement.

What had happened just now? What was _still_ happening? I didn’t understand the response I had to him. What did it mean?

I eyed the teeth marks on his throat. Had I gone too far? Would he die from that?

“D-do you think...” Levi’s cheeks reddened at the sound of his own voice. He cleared his throat. “Do you think your friend left clothes here?” He bent down to pick up the towel. He wrapped it around himself. “I don’t have anything to wear, and I don’t want to put back on the clothes I was in.”

Thoughts muddled, I yanked my T-shirt up over my head and held it out to him. He took it without meeting my gaze.

“Thank you,” he said.

I left him after that. I needed to put some distance between us. Being alone with him caused me to lose control, and I couldn’t understand why. I wasn’t here to get distracted by some human, but the thought of him wouldn’t leave my mind. Maybe it would be best to give him to the woman Hanji. That way I could remain focused on my duty. But if I released him, his friend would no longer cooperate with us. Most likely, she would do the opposite and work with the people who held Falco in captivity. I wouldn’t let that happen. Levi would have to remain with us until we have Falco.

 _And if he proves to be too much of a distraction,_ I thought, licking my bottom lip and tasting his blood there, _I’ll deal with it in my own way. After all, I kept him for me._

* * *

I stayed outside long after the sun went down. The cool night air helped me to stay focused. Out here, away from Levi, I could think. Or at least that was the case until I heard movement coming from the house. Levi must have woken up, which meant the venom hadn’t killed him.

Camouflaging myself, I slipped back inside and climbed the stairs. He was already roaming around the second floor, moving from room to room in the darkness. He stopped in front of each door, looked inside, and then went on to the next when he found no one inside. When he realized the house was empty, what would he do? Would he attempt to flee? We were out in the middle of nowhere. It would take an hour on foot to reach the nearest establishment, and he had to know that I wouldn’t let him get that far. Still, humans always tried despite the odds being against them and he struck me as the type who tried harder than most. 

Suddenly he turned his gaze in my direction. It was full dark. There was no way for him to see me, and I camouflaged myself better than others, but still he came closer.

“Eren?” he said, holding his hands out. He took a step towards me, but then his stomach growled. He tutted. “Fucking giants left me here without food.” He turned around and headed back the way he came. As he neared the room with the bed, he stubbed his toe on the doorway. “Ow, fuck!” he yelled, louder than I’d ever heard him. “Shit, shit, _shit.”_

“So, humans can’t see in the dark either?”

Levi whirled around at the sound of my voice. “You!” He took a guess at where I was and pointed at the empty space beside me. “I knew you were here.”

“You weren’t”—I paused, groping for the right words—“going to run away.”

“Why would I? You’d catch me.”

A chill went through me.

_Yes, I_ will _catch you every time you run._

Oblivious to the carnal instincts he stirred up, he came closer to me and asked, “Is Jean back yet?”

“No,” I said, voice gritty and raw. Venom gathered in my mouth, running in rivulets down my chin.

“He should be back soon though. Right?”

I didn’t answer him. If he came any closer...

As if spurred on by my thoughts, Levi walked closer to where he believed I was standing. “Hey, answer me,” he said.

He had been sleeping in my shirt for a little over eight hours. My scent clung to his skin. Instinct driven, I grabbed him by the arm and yanked him to me. He made a noise of surprise, but otherwise didn’t resist.

_Fool,_ I thought, wishing I could speak the words to him. _Do you not sense the danger you’re in?_

“You camouflage better than Jean.” Levi stared up at me, unafraid. “I can’t even make out your outline.” Reaching out, he placed his hands on my bare chest, palms running down over my stomach. His fingers scraped over dried blood. “You should rinse off.”

I appeared before him, expecting him to recoil at the sight of me. He did not so much as flinch. He only lifted his hand to touch the venom on my chin. When he brought his finger to his mouth, I wondered what kind of man I’d stumbled upon. What happened to his fear? He knew what I was capable of. Did me claiming him set his mind at ease?

I grabbed him by the chin and forced his head back. Even with the rough treatment, he didn’t shy away from me. I bared my teeth, venom dripping onto the floor in thick streams. I would show him that he shouldn’t trust me. I would instill fear in him, so he’d know that I had taken him and that he had no choice in the matter. He was _mine._

Lights cut through the darkness and lit up Levi’s face. I turned and gazed out of one of the many broken windows. A grey car was pulling up in front of the house. Through the front windshield, I spotted Jean behind the wheel, wearing a new set of clothes. He was back sooner than I expected him to be, but that was a good thing. With him here, I wouldn’t lose my head around Levi.

“Let’s hope he brought food,” Levi said. “Unless you guys are planning on starving me.”

I moved away from him. “You’ll get food.”

“You’re getting better at that.”

“At what?”

“Speaking English.”

I was a fast learner. If I had taken an interest in learning English before departing from home, I would have learned it in less than a week. Their language was simple enough. Even now, when I wasn’t trying, I was picking up on it.

“You’re not much of a talker, are you?” he said. “I have a feeling that even when you learn how to speak English fluently, you still won’t say much.”

In response to that, I said nothing.

He grinned. “You’re not as scary as I thought you were.”

I glared at him.

The grin stretched into a smile. “Don’t get me wrong, I know you could kill me right now without blinking an eye, but you have some humanity in you.”

“No.”

“You do,” he shot back. “You care about your people. You also spared my friend’s life.” He made eye contact. “And you’ve spared mine.”

“...Using you.”

“I’m aware of that.”

I muttered something in my language, then said, “Are all humans this...stupid?”

He scoffed. “I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt, and this is what I get?” Without waiting for a reply, he stepped around me and headed for the stairs. After descending two steps, he looked back at me. “Oh, and for future reference, you shouldn’t kiss someone you don’t like.” He went down another two steps before adding, “So don’t ever kiss me again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My mind is blanker than a white sheet of paper right now. All I can say is I hope you guys enjoyed reading the chapter. Next chapter I'll be talking more about the bite and how Jean reacts to it 😋 <\-- that emoji because there will be tension between Eren and Jean, and I love when my boys get aggressive.


	6. Chapter 6

“So don’t ever kiss me again.” I spoke the words in a clipped tone that made me sound more serious than I meant to. When Eren said nothing in return, I hurried down the stairs to the first floor. Near the bottom, my vision doubled and went out of focus. I grabbed the railing to steady myself. The sudden dizzy spell seemed to pass as fast as it came, but then a sharp pain shot through my throat, a thrumming heat emanating from the bite he had given me. The world began to spin. I only realized I was falling when a strong arm caught me around the waist.

“Levi?”

Eren’s voice. He sounded far away.

I gazed up at him. His face was nothing but a blur.

“Levi...” He carried on, but I heard nothing else as everything faded to black.

* * *

I came to in the same bed I’d slept in earlier. Judging from the lack of sunlight coming in through the slats of the shutter, I hadn’t been out for that long. I sat up, which took a good amount of effort. My body felt so heavy. Once I managed it, I glanced around the room, but it was too dark to make anything out. Not that having a light on would make much of a difference. Eren or Jean could be standing inches away from me in broad daylight, and I wouldn’t see them if they didn’t want me to. Was that the case now? Were they in here, hidden from view?

“Hello?” I called out.

No response.

I listened for anything that would tell me they were somewhere in the house, but only heard the sound of my own breathing. The silence unsettled me. It made me question whether or not they had left me out here alone while I lay in this room unconscious. If they had, why? _Maybe I’m turning out to be more trouble than I’m worth,_ I thought as I climbed out of bed. A difficult thing to do with how my limbs felt like they were weighed down by rocks. I leaned against the wall for support and took a step towards the door. My knees buckled under my weight. I fell to the floor.

“Dammit.” I tried to get back on my feet.

“It’s better if you just stay put.”

My eyes darted up at the sound of Jean’s voice. He stood a few feet away from me.

“You’ve been in here the whole time,” I said.

He came to kneel in front of me. His eyes went to the bite on my neck. With a grunt of annoyance, he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me back to the bed. He threw me onto it.

“What the hell was that for?” I asked, pissed.

Pulling up a chair I hadn’t noticed before, he sat down in front of the bed. He leaned forward and rested his arms on his legs, his eyes on the mark on my throat. “I want to know how you came by that bite.”

“Why don’t you ask Eren?”

“I’m asking you.”

“He was giving me venom.”

“Explain how giving you venom led to that. And I wouldn’t recommend lying to me. I’m not in the best of moods.”

One look at his face told me he would hurt me if I didn’t tell him the truth, so I said, “He gave me venom in a different way. He thought it would be easier to give it to me mouth-to-mouth.”

“And you let him kiss you, even knowing what it means for you humans?”

“It didn’t mean anything to me.”

Jean stood up. “What game are you playing, letting an alien who’s holding you hostage kiss you?”

“Alien...?”

He knocked me back and climbed over me. His eyes were burning brighter than ever. “Do you think you can win him over? Even if you do somehow, our kind isn’t compatible with your kind. He’ll kill you sooner or later. Just look at this.” He touched the bite, applying enough pressure to make it hurt. The wound started to bleed anew. “He lost control from a kiss. Next time it will be worse, and if he gives you enough venom, you’ll die. In fact, the amount he gave you today is the reason you lost consciousness. You’re lucky to be alive.” He grinned. “Or maybe you’re not so lucky. You have no idea what you’re getting mixed up with. You have no idea what Eren’s capable of doing to you. He’s stronger than any of us.”

“Get off me,” I said.

He camouflaged himself, disappearing right in front of me. I felt the bed shift, then the weight of his hand leave my neck. “There’s food for you in the kitchen,” he said, his voice coming from somewhere by the door. “Get it if you’re hungry.”

After he left, I touched the side of my neck. My fingers came away warm and sticky with blood.

_Aliens... Is that what they are? Or did he say that to frighten me?_

I thought about all their abnormalities—glowing eyes, producing venom, camouflaging—and knew he was telling the truth. When they took back Falco, they would leave and my life would go back to normal. I had to survive long enough for that. Or would they even let that happen? If they wanted to remain a secret, they would do away with all the people who knew about them. In the end, would it matter if we cooperated with them?

Sometime later, when the hunger got to be too much, I climbed out of bed and stuck to the wall as I made my way to the door. I pulled it open a crack and poked my head out, but there was nothing and no one. At least that’s how it appeared to the naked eye. I had a feeling Jean was nearby, watching me.

“Well, fuck him,” I said and walked out into the open. It took more time than I thought possible to reach the stairs, but I made it at last. As I grabbed onto the railing to head down, the front door burst open on its hinges. The loud crashing sound of it slamming against the wall startled me enough to make me jolt. “Jesus.” When my heartrate went back to normal, I looked down and could just make out someone coming inside. “Eren?” The tall figure moved forward, and I spotted Eren’s glowing turquoise eyes gazing up at me. The sight of them filled me with relief. They shouldn’t have, but they did.

_He’s no better than Jean. Remember what they are. They’re killers, the both of them._

“You’re awake,” said Eren.

“I woke up a while ago. I need help getting downstairs.”

One minute he was standing at the foot of the stairs, the next he was in front of me, looming over me in the darkness.

“How?” I asked, reaching out. My hand came to rest on his bare chest. Something warm and slick smeared across my palm. In the dark, it was hard to tell what it was. _You know what it is..._ “Is this blood?”

“Yes.”

“From what?”

“Food,” he said.

_“Food?_ What kind of food?” I waved my hand. “Never mind, don’t answer that. Just help me downstairs.” When he reached for me, I added, “Don’t carry me.”

He made an irritated sound and put his hands on my waist, anyway.

I pushed them away. “I don’t want blood on me. Just grab onto my arm, and make sure I don’t fall.” I waited. Nothing. “Eren?”

He grunted in response. Then, the next thing I knew, he was throwing me over his shoulder. I shouted protests, but he ignored them as he descended the stairs. By the time we reached the bottom, I gave up and let him carry me around.

“Do you know where the kitchen is?” I asked. “Wait, do you know what a kitchen is?”

“No.”

I sighed. “Take me to the food Jean brought for me.”

Eren turned and walked through an arched doorway. We entered an average-sized kitchen that only had the bare essentials—a round dining table that could seat four people, a low-grade refrigerator, a gas stove that looked like it wouldn’t work. Candles lit the space up well enough for me to see several grocery bags on the table. Looking at them, I had to wonder just what kind of food Jean bought. When Eren set me down on my feet, I peeked into the nearest one, half expecting to find some type of raw meat, but it was fresh fruit. I took an apple out and bit into it as I searched the other bags. There were wrapped sandwiches, baked goods, and an assortment of snacks.

While I unwrapped a roast beef and cheddar sandwich, Eren picked up an orange and sniffed at it. His nose wrinkled in disgust.

“Let me guess,” I said with an amused grin, “you think it smells like _sluk?”_ I held my hand out. “Hand it over.”

He gave it to me.

“It tastes better than you think.” I peeled it and tore off a section. “Try it.”

_“Ga’et qu’unt ta,”_ he said.

“I don’t know what you’re saying, but you sound like you’re whining. Come on. It’s not so bad. Watch.” I took a bite out of the orange. “See? It’s good.”

Eren grabbed the remaining piece with reluctance. He took a small bite.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“Sweet.”

“Does that mean you like it?”

“No, don’t like it.” He dropped the orange. “Like meat.”

I gazed at the blood on his chest, which no doubt came from some kind of meat. I didn’t want to think too hard about that. “You should shower.” I thought he wouldn’t know what a shower was, but he gazed down at himself as if he understood.

“Next you’ll be telling him to dress in clothes that make him appear more human.”

I whirled around. Jean was leaning up against the wall, arms crossed.

“He doesn’t care how he looks,” Jean went on.

“Then why do you?”

“I don’t.” He pushed off the wall and walked towards me. “For the sake of blending in, I keep up this appearance, but it doesn’t matter to me. The only thing that matters to me on this godforsaken planet is Falco.” When he reached me, he put his hand on my shoulder and forced me down into one of the chairs. “That’s why you’re going to tell me where all the research facilities are. I’m not going to wait around for your friend to gather information. For all I know, she can be biding her time to figure out a way to get you back without telling us anything.”

“She’s not like that,” I said.

He bent down to look me in the eyes. “Why should I believe you?” He glanced at the bite on my neck, like he had done earlier. This time he openly snarled at it. “You’re becoming a hindrance. There’s no reason to keep you alive if you’re not going to give us any information about Falco’s location. We can make the others cooperate without you. I don’t think they’ll resist once they see what I’ve done to you. Don’t you agree?”

I had a feeling he would hurt me no matter how I answered. Something about the bite Eren had given me bothered him. Maybe it meant something different to his species than it did to humans. And what did it mean to me, anyway? I hadn’t meant for it to happen. When Eren had kissed me—how could it be considered a kiss when he didn’t even know what a kiss was?—I’d lost my head. His venom had clouded my mind, and all I wanted in those seconds that our mouths were connected was more, which is why I had welcomed him biting me. Somehow it had felt right.

_Jean is right. I’m lucky to be alive_. Venom needs a wound to enter the bloodstream. A bite was a perfect way for Eren to poison me, and I hadn’t done anything to prevent it from happening.

“Well?” Jean snapped, impatient.

I looked at him. “You’re scared, aren’t you?” Saying the words made me realize how true they were. “Things aren’t turning out the way you planned, and now your partner is showing interest in a human. You don’t know what to do.”

He gritted his teeth. “Shut up. You don’t know anything.”

“I’m scared, too,” I said. “And so is Hanji, and so is Armin.” I held Jean’s gaze. “And so is Falco. If you want to kill me, go ahead, but that won’t solve anything.”

“Neither will keeping you alive.”

“I want to help.”

“Why would you want to help us? We killed everyone at the research facility. We took you hostage. Tell me why you would want to help us after all that.”

“Because once you have Falco, you’ll leave, and I can go home.”

“Prove it.” He slipped a notepad and pen out of his back pocket. He set them down on the table. “Write down the addresses of the other facilities.”

“You can’t kill anyone.”

He tapped the notepad. “Write them down.”

If I told them where the other facilities were, more innocent people would die. I didn’t want that on my hands. “The people who work at these facilities have nothing to do with any of this,” I told him as I wrote down the first address. “They don’t deserve to die. You can get the information you want without killing anyone.”

“They’ll attack us on sight.”

“Then don’t let them see you.”

Out of nowhere, Eren spoke up and said something to Jean in their language. 

“What did he say?” I asked.

“That no one will get hurt unless we’re attacked.” I smiled, relieved, but before I had a chance to thank Eren, Jean carried on. “They will attack us. Whether you like it or not, people are going to die. They don’t want us to take Falco. They’re keeping him to lure us in. And you heard your friend, they are ready for us, which means they know what we can do. We can’t just slip past them.”

My heart sank. “Just promise you won’t go out of your way to kill someone.”

“I won’t kill anyone who doesn’t want to kill me.”

“Fair enough,” I said while I wrote down another address. I didn’t know if I was doing the right thing. I had been forced into the middle of this, and now I was being forced to choose sides. _They wouldn’t be here if their people hadn’t been captured and murdered by humans. Didn’t we bring this on ourselves?_

“You really should shower,” Jean told Eren. “We’re going to have to check out all these facilities.”

_“Ung?”_ Eren said.

_“And_ you stink. I don’t want to be stuck in a car with you smelling like that. I doubt Levi wants to, either. Right, Levi?”

I tipped my head back to gaze up at Eren. “You do smell pretty ripe.”

He said nothing, only stared at me with an intensity that made me hyperaware of his every movement. His eyes traveled down the length of my throat to the teeth marks marring my skin. There they remained. The longer he looked, the harder it became to stay still. I wanted to turn away, break his concentration, but another part of me didn’t dare move. I felt like a mouse trapped in the gaze of a snake, helpless to do anything except wait for my fate.

“Come with me,” Eren said at last. He grabbed me by the arm and hoisted me to my feet.

“My sandwich...”

Jean picked up the sandwich and pushed it into my hand as his partner led me out of the kitchen. My legs were trembling by the time we got to the stairs.

“I can’t go any farther,” I said.

To that, Eren knelt, placed his forearm behind my knees, and picked me up bridal style. I let out a surprised yelp. That seemed to amuse him, if the grin on his face was anything to go by.

“I don’t see why I have to come with you.” Sulking, I held my sandwich to my chest. The smell of it made my stomach growl. I wanted to go back into the kitchen, sit at the table, and pretend to be in a normal situation for the next fifteen minutes, but the man carrying me around had other plans. That annoyed me. I hadn’t had any time to breathe since he and the other ogre kidnapped me from work. “Hey?” I waved a hand in front of his face. He kept climbing the steps. “Hey, listen to me. Why are you taking me with you? I could’ve stayed with Jean.”

“No.”

That’s all the explanation he gave me. There was no point in arguing my point. When he walked into the bathroom—there were more candles in here, lined up on the tank of the toilet—I let him set me down on the counter of the sink without making a fuss about it. I didn’t say anything when he turned on the shower, either. I just sat there in silence and watched him unbutton his jeans. He pushed them down over his waist until they slid down his legs and pooled at his feet. My breath caught in my throat. Back at the facility, he hadn’t been wearing a stitch of clothing, but I hadn’t paid attention. This time I did.

His body looked no different than a human’s. He was lean and muscular, with deep tan skin. My eyes raked over his bare chest, then lower, following the fine line of brown hair that led down to... 

“God,” I said under my breath. It seemed his height wasn’t the only big thing about him. I stole another glance, curious, and just as quickly averted my eyes. “What’s that?” I pointed to the odd slit above his privates.

Eren looked down at himself, then stepped up to the sink. He grabbed the bottom of my shirt and lifted it up, reminding me I was very much naked underneath.

“Hey!” I shouted.

He placed his big hand on the same spot on my body where his slit was. “Only skin,” he said.

“We’re different.” _In a lot more ways than this,_ I added mentally.

“Different.”

Embarrassed—he was staring too hard—I yanked my shirt back down. “Take a shower. The water should be warm by now.”

Not listening, he grabbed me by the hand and stretched my arm out. He touched the inside of my elbow, and then ran his fingers down to my wrist. “Different,” he repeated.

“You have arms, too.”

“You”—he put his free hand on my chest—“fragile, like glass. Me—”

“Not fragile.”

“Not fragile,” he confirmed.

“If I’m so fragile, maybe you shouldn’t choke me or bite me.”

To my surprise, he raised his hand and wrapped it around my throat. “Strong enough for this.”

A shiver shot down my spine. I swallowed and tried to regain my composure. “Maybe it’s better if you don’t speak English.”

He tipped his head to the side, confused.

I slapped his hand away. I had enough of him touching me. He needed to learn some boundaries. “Take a shower.”

This time around, he listened. I breathed a sigh of relief when he disappeared inside the walk-in shower. For a moment I considered sneaking out and going into the bedroom, but then thought better of it. He would just drag me back in here once he was out.

With a sigh, I unwrapped the sandwich and took a bite. While I ate, I looked around, checking the medicine cabinet for anything useful. There was a hairbrush, hair ties, a tube of toothpaste, and several toothbrushes. All of them appeared to be new. Had Jean bought them? Or had it been the other one, the friend who had told Jean about this place? The thought of another alien out there made my skin crawl. Where were they right now? Were they keeping track of us or Hanji? 

_Hanji..._

The sound of the sliding door opening on its track snapped me out of my thoughts. “Eren, about the friend Jean mentioned earlier...” I trailed off as Eren stepped out of the shower. This was the first time I’d seen him clean, without a trace of blood or venom on him. He looked... good. When he came up to the sink, I trained my gaze on a spot on the floor.

“Levi?” His voice was deep and husky, authoritative. Had he always sounded like that?

“What?”

He slid his fingers beneath my chin and tipped my head back until our eyes met.

“Your hair...” I reached up and brushed a lock away from his face. “It could use a brush.”

He didn’t resist when I brought the hairbrush out of the medicine cabinet and instructed him to turn around. He stood still as I ran the brush through his hair, working out all the snags, until his hair lay smooth against his back. With it still wet, it would be easy to put it up and get it out of his face. I started doing it without thought. I only realized I pulled it back into a messy bun when he reached back and touched the tie bounding his hair.

“It’ll keep it out of your face,” I explained. He turned back around. My heart hammered in my chest, hard and insistent. “You look handsome.”

“Handsome?”

“Very.”

Eren looked at himself in the mirror, then returned his gaze to me. “You like it?”

Through the lump that had formed in my throat, I said, “Yes.”

He cupped the side of my face, gentle. _“Lac uj vouc’tipih.”_

“What?”

“You are beautiful.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These two will always make my heart UwU  
> I found it funny that at the beginning, when Eren dropped the orange slice on the floor, Levi was like:  
> [](https://imgbb.com/)  
> But then at the end, after Eren stepped out of the shower, he was like:  
> [](https://imgbb.com/)
> 
> I love them sm! Don't look at me!  
> Btw, here's the translation to what Eren said when Levi offered him some orange.  
>  _Ga’et qu’unt ta_ = Don't want to <\-- a whole baby when it comes to human food 😂


	7. Chapter 7

It surprised me how normal Jean appeared as he approached the walk-up window of a food truck he’d spotted on the side of the road. Aside from his height, which forced him to lean down to place his order with the cashier, nothing about him stood out. His eyes were the one thing that would have given away his alienness, but they were hidden behind a pair of dark Ray-Ban sunglasses. No matter how you looked at him, he seemed like a regular guy. I found that odd. When I pictured aliens, I sure as hell didn’t picture tall men who could pass as humans. Did anyone? 

I turned to face Eren, who was sitting beside me in the backseat of an old Ford Bronco. Today he wore a short-sleeved black T-shirt and dark-blue jeans, paired with combat boots that he’d left unlaced.

“What?” he asked while I eyed him from head to toe.

“You look pretty damn normal when you’re all cleaned up and dressed.”

Eren gazed down at himself. “Hate clothes.”

“You tell me that like I don’t already know. You never wear anything when we’re at the boarding house.”

“Don’t need to. Clothes...unnecessary.”

I scoffed. “Speak for yourself. I like wearing clothes.”

To that, he reached out to touch the collar of the blue button-up shirt I had on. His fingers lingered there for a few seconds before moving to my neck, where he traced over the bite mark he had left a week ago. Goosebumps broke out on my skin. “Clothes unnecessary,” he repeated, cupping the side of my neck now. The warmth of his palm made something in my stomach clench tight. Then, as he leaned in close and looked into my eyes, the knot loosened, a flurry of butterflies taking flight. The fluttery sensation made me come back to my senses.

“Stop it.” I pushed his hand away and tried to turn, but he caught my face in his hands, forcing me to look at him. “Stop...”

“‘That’s all you say.”

“Because I want you to stop.”

“Do you?”

I glanced down at his lips despite myself, remembering how it felt to have them pressed against mine. Ever since he’d kissed me, I had made sure to keep a careful distance between us. That hadn’t been hard to do considering him and Jean had spent the last week checking out the other research facilities. While they were gone, I had hours to myself, hours to think about how I had let a murderer kiss me. _He’s killed so many innocent people,_ I thought, my eyes still on his lips. _He’ll kill more before this is done. I can’t get close to him. I_ won’t _get close to him. No good will come of it._ “Yes,” I said, my voice just above a whisper, “I do.”

_“Hiuj.”_

“How many times do I have to tell you that I don’t—”

“Understand,” he finished for me. “I called you a liar.”

“A liar...? I’m not.” I had nothing else to say. His lack of words always made it easy to keep our conversations from progressing, but now he had a better understanding of forming sentences. Since when did he know how to speak English so well? I hadn’t seen much of him in the past week, but was that enough time to learn so much?

“You are.”

I shoved him back. “Go away. Or better yet, go back to not knowing how to speak more than a few words of my language.”

“I will learn more.”

“You already learned too much,” I protested.

Just then, the driver’s door opened and in came Jean, saving me from having to keep up the conversation. He tossed two paper bags my way. They landed in my lap. “Eat. We still have a long way to go.”

“How long?” I asked as I opened the first bag. He had bought me enough breakfast burritos to feed five people. I took one out, unwrapped it, and took a bite. In my peripheral vision, I saw Eren sniffing the air. He smelled the meat. Meat seemed to be the only thing he wanted to eat.

“Another hour,” Jean said. He started up the Bronco and pulled out onto the road. “Your friend has us going a long way out.”

I didn’t have anything to say to that. It had taken me all of three days to convince them to call Hanji, then another to persuade them to go through with meeting her at a location of her choice. I only hoped she had a good reason to make us drive to a place far from her apartment. If she had something planned, like a trap, things wouldn’t turn out well for her. I had told her as much, but she never listened to reason. _Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to call her. Maybe it would have been better to let Jean and Eren go about this on their own but..._

_Eren..._

I glanced his way to find him already looking at me. When our eyes met, my breath caught in my throat. Feeling foolish, I dropped my gaze and cursed myself for showing any type of reaction to something so simple. This proved that I couldn’t stay by him any longer than necessary. If Hanji could help him get Falco back, then that would help me get back to my life faster. And I _needed_ to get back to my life. The longer I stayed around Eren and Jean, the more I got to know them, which only made me realize there was a lot more to them than what I had seen the first night we’d met.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about this,” Jean said, loud enough to startle me out of my thoughts. He picked up a paper cup and held it out to me without looking away from the road. “Something to wash that human crap down.”

I took it from him. “Is this coffee?” It smelled like coffee.

“Yep.” He smiled, proud.

“I hate coffee,” I said.

The smile vanished. “What do you mean you hate it? You know how many humans I see drinking that stuff? The line at coffee shops is always backed up and—” He stopped when he heard me chuckle. “What’s funny now?”

“You are. There’s no reason to get so offended. Some people don’t like coffee. If you drank some, you would understand why.”

“Give it here.”

I handed it back to him. He sniffed at the drink, judged it edible, then took a sip. His face screwed up.

“That’s God awful,” he said in an accusatory tone. “Why would anyone drink this? It’s bitter.”

“Because you can add stuff to make it taste better, like sugar or creamer.”

He shook his head and just said, “No.”

After that, he rolled down the windows and lightened the mood by turning on the radio. The sound of a cheery song made it easier to ignore the man sitting beside me, but then said man tapped me on the shoulder. When I turned towards him, I saw his long hair whipping around in the wind.

Eren pointed to the hair tie around my wrist. I slid it down and off my hand.

“Here.”

He grabbed it, but made no move to use it.

I sighed. “Turn around. I’ll do it for you.”

Instead of turning around, he came closer. “This way.”

“Unbelievable,” I said, even as I set aside my burrito and unbuckled my seatbelt. I faced him and ran my fingers through the tangled mess that was his hair. My fingers kept catching on tangles. I worked through as many as I could, but the wind only created more. At last, I gave up and gathered his hair in my hands, pulling it back into a bun. “This would have been easier if you had faced the other way.”

“This way,” he repeated.

“Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time. Who knew you—” My words cut off on a gasp as he leaned forward, his breath warm on my neck. My mind went blank. “I can’t”—I swallowed, feeling the bite on my throat begin to throb with heat—“do your hair like this.”

Eren made no response.

“You don’t know what you’re doing,” I persisted, suddenly reminded of how he had called me beautiful. _Idiot, why would you remember that now of all times? It doesn’t make a difference._ “You don’t know what it means.” The only reason he’d kissed me that night was to give me venom for my pain. There was no other meaning behind it. To him, I was just a plaything, something to amuse him. I had to make him see that I was done being played with.

“I learned what it means,” he said.

That took me so aback, I pushed him with enough force to send him flying, but he didn’t budge an inch. “What what means?”

_“Qu’ut u kic joues.”_

 _Now_ he chose to speak to me in his language?

“Get back in your seat,” Jean hissed, his eyes never once leaving the rearview mirror. “Buckle up.” He added something in his own tongue, something that made Eren sit up and look behind us.

“What is it?” I asked, buckling in.

“Just act normal and keep your mouth shut.”

“What...” Flashing red and blue lights interrupted me, followed by the telltale sound of a police siren. All the pieces came together then. We were getting pulled over. Did Jean understand what that meant? “They already ran your plates,” I explained in a rush. “If this vehicle was reported stolen, which I have no doubt it was, then we’re going to get arrested for grand theft auto. They probably already called it in, too.”

He gritted his teeth. “What does that mean?”

“It means even if we get away, all the policemen in this area will be on the lookout for this Bronco. And if this cop sees us, they’ll be on the lookout for us, as well. They’ll have our descriptions.”

Jean took a deep breath, then turned his attention to Eren _. “Qu’ut sruh quin ga?”_

_“Kih troj,”_ was Eren’s response.

I looked between them, but had no chance to ask what they meant to do before the cop appeared beside the driver’s side window. The man was big, with greying blonde hair, and judging from the look he gave Jean, he wasn’t about to waste time listening to any explanations. He was going to take us in and leave the questions for later. Unless Eren and Jean thought of something to do in the next few minutes, we were screwed. 

“Officer,” Jean said in an oddly calm voice.

The man eyed him over the rim of his sunglasses. “Do you know why I pulled you over?”

“Of course I do. I stole this car.”

The cop’s brows drew together in confusion. When he opened his mouth to speak, Jean tore his throat out with one quick swipe of his hand, ribbons of flesh ripped away to expose the muscle underneath. Blood gushed from the gash. I stared at the dying man with disbelieving eyes, letting out a whimper when he fell to the ground with a heavy thud. Half a heartbeat later Jean was out of the car, camouflaged to conceal himself from any passing vehicles. Luckily there were none.

_Luckily...? How is that lucky?_

Yet, even as the cop’s limp body was lifted to its feet, I heard myself say, “Police cars have dash cams that record every traffic stop. If you want to get rid of all the evidence, get rid of it.”

“Eren will deal with that.”

I turned, expecting to find Eren still sitting beside me, but he had already stepped out. His door hung open.

“There was another cop,” Jean explained from somewhere beside my opened window.

“Did he kill him?” I didn’t know why I asked. I knew the answer already.

“Yes.”

“You said you wouldn’t kill anyone unless they tried to kill you.”

“I also told you I would kill anyone who stands in our way. No life is worth more than Falco’s.” A pause, then, “Not even yours.”

* * *

Jean parked the Bronco behind a supermarket ten miles away from where we’d been pulled over. “Stay here for now,” he told me as he pushed open the driver’s side door with a hand red with dried blood. He stepped out, gave me a passing glance, then slammed the door shut behind him. I watched him walk towards the parking lot, then disappear as he activated his camouflage. I didn’t need to be told where he was going. We needed another car.

While I sat there, unable to stop trembling from the shock of watching a man get killed, Eren stripped off his shirt. He tossed it aside.

“You shouldn’t leave that in here,” I said in a shaky voice. “It could tie you to the scene of the crime.” A beat later, I remembered how his fingerprints wouldn’t be in the system. His DNA wouldn’t turn out any results, either, but it could alert authorities of his involvement. No doubt there were people looking for him and Jean, people who knew what they were. If they were made aware of the incident with the cops, they would have a trail to follow. _I should let him leave his shirt. I shouldn’t care if he gets caught. Why should it matter to me?_ I sighed and looked at him for the first time since everything happened. Blood stained his mouth and chin. “You bit the officer?”

“Venom kills fast.” 

I took a deep breath. He had already left behind traces of himself for others to find. “Give me your shirt.” After he handed it to me, I grabbed a water bottle I’d brought with me from the boarding house and unscrewed the cap. I poured some onto the fabric. “Come here. Let me wipe your face.”

Eren leaned in close. While I washed away crusted blood from around his mouth, I found myself wondering about my position again. No one needed to tell me that Eren and Jean weren’t good men. I knew that. They were cruel and dangerous, but what good would turning against them do? Even if I refused to help them from this point onwards, they wouldn’t stop. They wanted Falco, and it was clear that they were willing to do anything to get him.

“You’re quiet,” Eren said as I scrubbed at his face too hard.

“That’s because I have nothing to say to you.”

He grinned, amused. “You’re angry with me.”

Exasperated, I shoved his shirt against his chest. “Here, I’m done.” Thinking of something else, I added, “And don’t leave it in here. Not unless you want to give the police something to think about. I’m sure your blood would interest them a great deal.”

“None of my blood is on it.”

I scowled. “You’re annoying now that you can talk back. Unlearn English.” 

“But I learned English for you.”

I looked at him, more confused than ever. For the past week, I had gone over every reason to stay away from him. There were plenty. The bruises on my neck and back had faded with time, but the memory of how I got them remained. He had strangled me, kidnapped me from my place of work, chased me down, and held me hostage against my will. He was a monster who felt nothing when he hurt or killed someone. Yet, for some reason, I had helped him.

“Why did I?” I asked aloud, meeting his gaze. “Why did I help you back there? I knew what you would do—what Jean would do. But I told you all the information you needed to know, anyway.” I let out a shaky breath. “Those cops you killed today have families. Families that will never see them again. All because they pulled over the wrong men.” _And you and Jean aren’t even men._

Eren leaned back. “Did my people deserve to die?”

“Those cops had nothing to do with that.”

“No, but they would have made it harder to reach the last remaining survivor.”

“And we can’t have that, can we?” I said in a sarcastic tone.

“You don’t know how important Falco is to my people.”

The rumble of an engine drew my attention away from him. A white Suzuki Samurai was idling beside the Bronco. “You’re right,” I said, my gaze still on the car beside us. Jean, who sat behind the wheel, was waving us over. “I don’t know. But I’m beginning to understand.” I reached back and took hold of the door handle. I wouldn’t outrun them. They would catch me long before I made it into the supermarket, but if I proved to be too much trouble, maybe they would put an end to this. “I’m beginning to understand a lot of things.”

Before I could push the door open, Eren yanked my hand off the handle. “Running away again?”

“Running away for good.”

He pulled me close. When he spoke again, his lips were at my ear. “I would love to chase you, but we can’t keep your friend waiting.”

I had no time to piece together what he meant by that before I felt a stab of pain at my throat, right over the mark he had given me last time. His teeth reopened the wound with ease. Clawing at his back, I tried to blink the world back into clarity, but my surroundings were swimming out of focus as heat raced through my veins. _His venom..._ My limbs were growing heavier by the second. I tried to hold on long enough to ask him how much he’d given me _—enough to kill me?—_ but I was losing my grasp on consciousness. With the last bit of strength I had, I attempted to push him away.

He grabbed my hand, the one shoving at him, and brought it to his mouth. I felt the prick of his teeth on my wrist, then nothing, only darkness.

* * *

I awoke to Hanji’s face looming over mine.

“Levi?” she shouted when she saw that my eyes were open.

I groaned. My neck and wrist burned. “God, don’t yell.”

Completely ignoring me, she said in a booming voice that echoed off the walls, “I thought you were dead. You should be. Do you know how deadly their venom is?” She eased my head to the side, inspecting the bite on my throat. From the worried expression that settled on her face, I figured she didn’t like what she saw. “It doesn’t look too good. I would have cleaned it up, but _they_ wouldn’t let me leave to go get a first aid kit.” Judging by how she spat out “they,” like it was a curse, she was referring to Eren and Jean. “How do you feel? Does it hurt?”

“Only a little,” I admitted. “Here, help me up.”

It took some effort to coax me into a sitting position. Like the first time Eren had bitten me, my body was slow to respond.

“Where is everyone?” I asked, scanning the room. I didn’t recognize the building we were it, but it was huge and bare save for a conference table and some chairs. “And where are we?”

She picked up one of the chairs and brought it over. With her help, I sat down in it. “This building belongs to Armin,” she said as she pulled up a chair for herself. “His father used to run a real estate company some twenty years ago and this”—she gestured around us—“is all that remains of it.”

“Why did you ask us to meet you here?”

“Those things out there—”

“Eren and Jean,” I interrupted.

“What?”

“That’s their names.”

“Their names don’t matter to me. Don’t you understand what they are?” There was fear and anger in her eyes as she continued. “Those things out there will kill you long before they get their hands on Falco. They’re warriors, trained since they could walk to serve, fight, and kill. It’s their duty to bring Falco back, and they will stop at nothing to do it. But they don’t understand that the people holding Falco know their strengths _and_ their weaknesses. They can’t just storm in there like they would like to. If they do, they’ll find nothing. Falco’s been moved to a secret location.”

From behind me, I heard the distinct sound of clicking.

“Eren, don’t,” I said, seconds before he materialized beside me. He had been in here the whole time, camouflaged.

“Where have they moved him?” he asked in a snarl.

Hanji, who didn’t seem the least bit surprised to see him, looked at him straight on. “I don’t know.”

He moved quicker than I would have believed possible, taking hold of the arms of her chair to yank her forward. He bent down and stared at her full in the face. “Tell me where they took him.”

“I can’t tell you something I don’t know.”

He raised his hand, ready to strike...

“Don’t!” I stood up on legs that almost buckled under my weight. Still, I forced myself to walk up to him. I put my hand on his arm. When he stared down at me, I said, “She’s telling the truth.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do. I know her.”

“Not too long ago you wanted to run away again. Now you expect me to trust your word?”

“You killed those men—”

“And I’ll kill more,” he snapped.

Hanji pushed back in her seat and rose to her feet. “If you want to kill us, then get it over with, but that won’t get you any closer to Falco. If you want him back, we need to work together. That’s why I brought you here. The five of us need to stick together.”

“Here?” Eren glanced around. “No.”

“You’ll be safe here. No one will know of this location.”

“No,” he repeated. “We’re done here.” He grabbed me by the arm and started for the door, but that’s when Armin and Jean came through it. “We’re leaving.”

“We’re staying.” Jean turned to Armin. “Show him.”

Armin stepped forward and lifted the sleeve of his shirt. There, on his forearm, was a bite mark similar to my own, except smaller. 

“Falco bit him at his request,” Jean said. “They’re linked.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how in Chapter 5 Eren said he could learn English in a week if he wanted to? **He meant that shit!** Not to say that he won't struggle with it every once in a while, but he's very smart and is quick to pick up on things. 
> 
> As for the ending, there's more to linking than just a bite. Obviously if that's how it happened, Eren would be linked to the dudes he bit for, uh, murdering purposes *takes a long sip of coffee*, even though they're all dead now, so technically the link would have been broken anyway *takes a longer sip of coffee*. But anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed reading this chapter. ♡
> 
> Translation for the alien language used in this chapter:  
>  _Hiuj_ = Liar  
>  _Qu'ut u kid joues._ = What a kiss means.  
>  _Qu'ut sruh quin ga?_ = What should we do?  
>  _Kih troj._ = Kill them.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! ♡
> 
> Social media info: [✉︎](https://dressedindarkness.carrd.co)


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